Inflammatory Defense

Randall Richman swears he didn’t drink liquor the night he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

He admits he did eat fire.

That’s why the breath test showed his blood-alcohol level to be twice the legal driving limit of 0.08%, according to the 32-year-old magician and fire-eater from Westlake Village.

It wasn’t liquor that the machine was measuring--it was three different lighter fluids that he uses for his performance, he said. He saturates a swath of cotton with the liquids, sets the material on fire, and then puts it in his mouth and blows.

“I had nothing to drink that night,” Richman insists. “That report is more fiction than fact, in my opinion.”

It may not be the trial of the century, but it should grab some attention. Duelling experts are set to testify that misreadings based on fire-eating are impossible, or very likely--depending on, of course, for which side the expert is testifying.

Richman’s attorney, Andrew Radel, said he will ask his client to demonstrate fire-eating during the trial, which is scheduled to begin April 12.

The fire-eating defense could be difficult to prove, but not impossible.

In 1991, professional fire-eater Ted Maschal was acquitted by a jury in San Francisco on similar charges. Maschal was returning home from a fire-eating performance at a night club when he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. The jury found him not guilty.

He said kerosene for the act caused the test to register a 0.08% blood-alcohol reading.

Richman, who lived in Studio City at the time of his arrest, was pulled over on Ventura Boulevard near Allott Avenue on Dec. 7, 1999, just before midnight, for driving without headlights. He was also going 55 mph in a 35-mph zone, and was not carrying his driver’s license with him, although he did have one.

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He said he had just taught a fire-eating class at the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

Richman’s eyes were “bloodshot” and “watery” and he was unable to stand, according to the police report, which states there was an “odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage” about him.

His breath-alcohol reading was 0.16% on the first test and 0.17% on the second.

“I use the stuff that says on the bottle, ‘If you drink this, you’re going to die’,” Richman said.

Expert Douglas Gerst, a preliminary alcohol-screening coordinator for the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division, said alcohol-testing machines are reliable.

Gerst will testify as an expert for the prosecution.

“I don’t believe those chemicals were registering on the device,” he said. “This will be an interesting trial because you’re not just arrested off your breath test. My understanding is his driving was terrible and his field sobriety test was terrible.”

Gerst acknowledged there are ways to fool the test. If a person uses Binaca breath spray, the test may read as high as 0.30% without any alcohol having been consumed, he said. But if a second test is taken a few minutes later, the reading will correctly reflect blood alcohol content.

Richman has a point, according to Darrell Clardy, who worked as a forensic scientist for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for 10 years and is now an independent forensic toxicologist. Clardy will testify for the defendant.

Fire-eating chemicals “can be confused with other compounds,” he said. “But it’s not a common event. Not many people do that for a profession.”

If convicted, Richman faces as many as 36 months’ probation and fines of as much as $1,500, said Howard Fuchs, the prosecuting attorney on the case. He may also have to participate in a 90-day alcohol-treatment program, he said.

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It is likely Richman will eat fire for the judge and jury, both attorneys said.

“It should be a fun trial,” Clardy said. “A judge would love to watch that.”

Richman has traveled for performances throughout the United States, as well as to Mexico and Europe. He also specializes in card tricks, levitation and mind reading.

“I’ve gone up in flames twice,” he said. “I have some scars on my face. I’ve lost hair and burned a $1,200 tuxedo.”

Once, he said, he ate fire for a Mothers Against Drunk Driving fund-raiser.