Man imprisoned for fatal Tucson hotel fire to be freed after 42 years

A man convicted in 1972 of 28 counts of murder in the infamous Pioneer Hotel fire in
Tucson will secure his freedom Tuesday after 42 years in prison.

Louis Taylor, 59, was 16 when he was arrested shortly after the Pioneer Hotel caught
fire in 1970. Twenty-nine people died in the blaze, which started on the fourth floor of
the 11-story hotel. Firefighters’ ladders could not reach the upper floors.

Taylor is scheduled to enter an unspecified plea in Pima County Superior Court Tuesday,
after which he will be sentenced to the time he has already served.

Volunteer attorneys from the Arizona Justice Project have been looking at Taylor’s case
for more than a decade. This year, they filed a motion for a new trial, citing sworn
depositions from experts who said modern forensic techniques cast doubt as to whether the fire was arson.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/arizona/articles/20130329tucson-man-imprisoned-hotel-fire-to-be-freed-42-years.html