"Prosecutors seek $44 million in Hayman fire"

Denver Post News Story - Howard Pankratz

This story presents an opportunity to discuss the difference between obtaining a judgment and collecting on a judgment.

Let us assume the judge in this case orders Terry Lynn Barton, the woman convicted of starting a huge forest fire in 2002, to pay the $44 million in restitution the prosecutor is requesting.

Such a restitution order would be the civil equivalent of obtaining a judgment. It is a court order to pay someone money.

Once the judgment is obtained, the next step is collecting on the judgment.

What are the odds that Barton would ever be able to pay off the judgment? We do not currently have the technology to measure such a small percentage.

Let's round down and call it a zero percent chance.

So why seek such a huge number? It is akin to sentencing someone to 500 years in prison. You want to make darn sure the person has to spend the rest of her life paying for her crime.

Also according to the article, "As part of her 15-year probation, Barton must perform community service in either Teller, Jefferson, Park or Douglas counties, where the fire took place."

If they really wanted her to pay off the restitution they should make her get a paying job, or do work for the victims of the fire.

Pankratz also notes that "Barton originally had been sentenced to spend 12 years in prison — the first six on federal charges and the last six in Colorado on state charges. But because of a technicality, she was resentenced in March and was allowed to serve the sentences concurrently."

That "technicality" to which he refers is called "the law."