The former owner of a Jefferson City business was sentenced to seven years in prison for setting a fire to destroy the business.
Kurt Steidley, 55, received the maximum sentence for a charge of second-degree arson during a Wednesday sentencing hearing before Cole County Judge Dan Green.
A jury in September found Steidley guilty of setting the New Year's Day 2011 fire that damaged the Everhart's Sporting Goods warehouse, 2436 Missouri Blvd.
It was the second time in 19 months Steidley was found guilty by a jury.
"The evidence in this case showed there was a danger to firefighters and the public who would have been driving along Missouri Boulevard. This was a case of arson for benefit," Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson said at Wednesday's sentencing proceedings.
Steidley's attorney Chris Slusher argued although they understand what the jury found his client guilty of, he believed his client should be given probation.
"Under the state guidelines, Kurt meets 75 percent of the qualifications for probation and he has no prior convictions," Slusher said.
After handing down the sentence, Slusher asked if his client could remain free on his $25,000 bond until the appeals process would be completed.
Green set Steidley's appeal bond at $250,000 but did say if he posted 10 percent of that amount, $25,000 then he could remain out on bond. Steidely was able to post that amount.
Richardson said typically the appeals process takes six to nine months.
The second trial occurred after Green set aside the 2014 guilty verdict when he determined he had made an error in allowing some evidence.
Steidley, who lives in Knob Noster, first told investigators he last had been in Jefferson City on Dec. 30, 2010, two days before the fire.
But cellphone records indicated he had made calls in Jefferson City the night of the fire.
Steidley later said he had been in town to take his elderly mother to dinner and grocery shopping and had stopped by the business to make sure it was locked.
Richardson told jurors Steidley never called authorities to investigate the gas odor or to turn off the natural gas line to the business.
"Did anybody else have a motive to burn the business records and blow the inventory to pieces?" Richardson asked.
But Slusher asked the jury to consider the number of questions the investigation didn't answer.
"The investigation was imprecise, incomplete and, therefore, incorrect," Slusher said in his closing argument. "It led to somebody sitting here who didn't do something."
Slusher also reminded the jurors that prosecutors are required to "prove beyond a reasonable doubt" someone committed the crime. But, he said, "if you look at things, you'll find reasonable doubt scattered throughout the case."
He urged the jurors to remember the testimony from several of Steidley's friends, family and business associates - who all said Steidley was a man of good character.
Richardson said none of those people knew details about the fire.
"Six or seven times zero still equals zero," the prosecutor said.
Slusher argued the cooperative investigation involving Jefferson City's fire department, the state fire marshal and ATF still spent too much time focused on Steidley and didn't make enough effort to check on other possible suspects.