RENO, Nev. (AP) — A woman who set a devastating hotel fire was sentenced to 12 consecutive life prison terms Friday, one for each person killed in the blaze.
Valerie Moore pleaded guilty in January to the Halloween night murders but said at her sentencing hearing that she did so only to avoid the death penalty.
"I'm sorry for each and every one of your loss, but I did not do this," she said, as some in the courtroom gasped.
Washoe District Judge Brent Adams, however, said Moore acknowledged when she entered her plea that she is guilty. Prosecutors would be free to seek the death penalty if Moore seeks an appeal.
Twelve people died of asphyxiation and 31 were injured in the fire at the Mizpah Hotel, an 84-year-old building without sprinklers where rooms rented for $150 a week.
Prosecutors said Moore, who was paroled in 2005 after serving time for another murder, had been angry with another tenant when she set fire to a mattress outside his door.