Chaos at guilty verdict on deadly blaze's anniversary

Chaos erupted in a Mineola courtroom Friday as the man found guilty of setting a fire that killed a woman and three of her children tried to push past court officers, and the woman's husband fled the room overcome with grief.

Caleb Lacey, standing, stiffened his body and shook his head as the forewoman read the verdict that could send him to prison for 25 years to life.

Then, as she finished and his lawyer tried to coax him back into his seat, he turned around and lunged toward the gallery.

A half dozen uniformed court officers jumped on the slight 20-year-old, pushing him to the ground and shouting for members of the audience to sit down.

Lacey's guilty verdict on arson and murder charges came a year to the day after the horrific fire that killed his Lawrence neighbor, Morena Vanegas, 46, and the three children, Saul Preza, 19, Andrea, 10, and Susanna, 9.

Nassau County Judge Jerald Carter is expected to sentence Lacey April 9.

Prosecutors charged him with murder under two different legal theories, a common practice. Lacey was found guilty of four counts of felony murder, which is causing a death while committing a felony - in this case, arson.

He was found not guilty of four counts of murder under depraved indifference - but jurors found him guilty of a lesser charge under that theory, four counts of second-degree manslaughter.

Legally, that meant the jury believed Lacey had acted recklessly, but not with depraved indifference, in setting the fire. Still, Lacey faces the same maximum prison sentence whether he had been convicted under one or both types of murder.

Jurors had been deliberating since last Tuesday, including five full days spent reviewing and discussing the evidence. When the forewoman finally rose to begin announcing the verdict Friday about 4 p.m., Edit Vanegas whose wife, stepson and two daughters were killed in the fire, ran from the courtroom, howling with grief.

Vanegas had escaped the fire by jumping out of a window with his two sons, and testified that he listened to his daughters calling for him as the fire consumed them.

His sobs outside the courtroom could be heard as the forewoman read, shaking, through the remaining counts in Lacey's indictment.

Throughout the trial, Lacey's lawyer, Christopher Cassar of Huntington, raised questions about whether Edit Vanegas might have been the real murderer in the case.

Prosecutor Michael Canty told jurors that Lacey set the fire so he could act as a hero in helping to put it out. His strongest evidence included gasoline found inside Lacey's fire pants, inconsistencies in the stories he told police, and videos placing his car near the fire at the time it was set.

Morena Vanegas' sister, America Chavez, said Friday night the verdict would bring the family some peace.

"It's exactly the date that he burned them alive, and this is the date they found him guilty," she said. "It's not going to bring them back, but we're satisfied."

Lacey's family and lawyer were anything but satisfied.

"We're extremely disappointed with the result," Cassar said, adding he will move to have the verdict vacated at the sentencing. "This was a circumstantial case. There was no direct evidence of Caleb starting this fire."

With Yamiche Alcindor, Matthew Chayes, Keith Herbert and Zachary R. Dowdy