After some 22 hours of deliberation, a Howard County jury this week found Richard Allen Rodola guilty in the burning death of Pamela Myers in North Laurel in 2010.
Rodola, 50, of no fixed address, was found guilty Feb. 27 of second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the death of then-girlfriend Myers, who was set on fire in the woods where she and Rodola lived. She died a few weeks later.
During his eight-day trial, Rodola admitted to pouring gasoline over Myers twice and then flicking the lighter that started the fire. But he claimed the incident was an accident, that he was attempting to scare the 37-year-old woman off, that they both were drunk and arguing and he wanted her to leave the wooded area where the homeless couple lived.
Prosecutor Katherine Winfree said she was satisfied with the verdict.
"Obviously, the jury took a long time and carefully considered the evidence and came up with a fair verdict," she said. "He (Rodola) is 50 years old. He faces a 30-year sentence. Obviously, we're going to be asking for the maximum sentence. That's tantamount to a life sentence."
Sentencing is set for May 22.
The fatal blaze was set on Oct. 23, 2010, east of the 9100 block of Route 1. Myers remained hospitalized with burns to more than 50 percent of her body before she died on Nov. 18.
Rodola, who had been in a relationship with Myers for more than decade, was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault.
"We spent 22 hours. That's what it boiled down to," said one male juror who declined to give his name. "It took hours and hours and hours to get there."
Rodola's defense attorney, George Psoras Jr., said afterward that he disagreed with the jury's decision.
"There was no intent. He never intended to harm this woman, much less kill her," Psoras said. "I think the jury got it wrong, but I give them plaudits for the time they spent in deliberating."
'We loved each other'
When the case began, Rodola's defense had been based on the suggestion that while he admitted to pouring two liters of gas on Myers, the fire itself hadn't come from him. Psoras argued that, just before the fire, Myers had a cigarette in her mouth or hand and a lighter either in her hand or nearby.
Psoras also questioned the credibility of two key witnesses who lived in a tent near Rodola and Myers — the homeless couple of Michael Sanders and Melissa McCulley — portraying them as addicts and alcoholics whose stories had changed over time.
Yet when Rodola took the witness stand in his own defense, he also admitted to starting the lighter, all part of what he said was an alcohol-fueled and misguided effort to frighten Myers and end their argument.
He claimed he was standing at least three feet away from his girlfriend, that a flame snaked through the air from the lighter, following the fumes to Myers and setting her on fire.
"I didn't know it would catch her on fire," he said under questioning from Psoras. "I wasn't in my right frame of mind. None of it makes sense to me. Where was my head? I was beyond drunk. I loved her. We loved each other. I always will love her."
Winfree, in her closing argument, said Rodola wants to put literally distance between himself and Myers, that he wants to limit his responsibility for her death.
"He wants you to excuse his behavior because he was drunk out of his mind," she said. "Intoxication is not a defense in this case. He remembered every detail. Does that sound like someone who was drunk out of his mind?"
She said that Rodola's story actually matched much of the testimony from Sanders and McCulley, except when the details would hurt his case.
"Was it an accident when he poured the gas the first time?" she said. "Was it an accident when he poured the gas the second time? Was it an accident when he took the lighter and held it up to her?"
Bobbi Grandstaff, a Pasadena resident who had been friends with Myers for five years, said after the verdict that she wished the jury had found Rodola guilty of first-degree murder. Grandstaff had testified during the trial about receiving a phone call from Myers just before the incident, asking to be picked up in North Laurel because Rodola had poured gas on her and threatened to light her on fire.
"At least he's getting time for what he did to her," Grandstaff said. "He killed one of my best friends."