Brothers Found Not Guilty in Fire Deaths of 4

Two brothers were acquitted Monday of charges that they set a fire that killed a South-Central Los Angeles couple and their two young children in September, 1992.

Prosecutors had contended that Ronald Germany, 33, and Carlos Germany, 31, had torched the small bungalow on West 39th Street in order to kill Amparo Martinez, 34, scheduled to testify against one of the brothers’ associates in a robbery case.

The fast-moving blaze trapped Amparo Martinez, 34; her husband, Jeronimo Martinez, 40, and their two daughters, Liliana, 2, and Fabiola, 6, behind locked doors and window security bars. A 17-year-old son, Juan, escaped, along with another teen-ager and an adult who shared the home.

Defense attorneys argued successfully in Los Angeles Superior Court that there was no scientific evidence to back the prosecution’s contentions that the Germany brothers had doused the home with gasoline and set it afire.

The brothers were arrested in May, 1993. Police Chief Willie L. Williams said at the time that another motive for the crime was to force the family from the home so the Germanys could sell drugs there, as they had earlier when the home was vacant.

Williams said that while the property was vacant, the landlord discovered that a telephone had been installed and bicycles were being stored there. The landlord removed the items, renovated the place and the Martinez family moved in.

Neighbors were so outraged by the crime that police were flooded with tips, the chief said. City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas led a multiracial candlelight vigil to underscore the outrage, and the City Council posted a $25,000 reward in the case.

Williams said leads provided by neighbors led to the arrest of the Germanys.