A Whitefish man accused of setting his ex-girlfriend’s house on fire asked to withdraw his no contest plea because his attorney said a district court judge displayed bias during a sentencing hearing earlier this year.
James Wallace Langley, 35, was charged with felony arson after DNA evidence connected him to the scene of an October 2013 house fire.
In January, defense attorney Jack Quatman and prosecutors crafted a deal where Langley would enter a plea of no contest and the state would recommend a six-year differed sentence. Langley entered his plea in front of Judge Robert Allison on Jan. 22. A no contest plea is entered when a defendant acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them but still maintain that they are innocent.
At a sentencing hearing, Judge Allison told Langley and his attorney that he would not be following the plea agreement because of the seriousness of the crime. Allison said he would give the defendant more time to come up with testimony as to why he should be given a deferred sentence and the sentencing was postponed. On April 20, Langley filed a motion to withdraw his plea. In the motion, Quatman argued that Allison displayed a bias when he likened lighting someone’s house on fire to firing randomly into a home with an assault rifle and that it was clear he has “very strong personal feelings concerning arson.”
Earlier this month, Deputy County Attorney Alison Howard filed a motion arguing that Langley knowingly entered his no contest plea and that the court should deny the motion to withdraw.
A sentencing hearing was scheduled for May 27 but it was continued until the judge could make a ruling on Langley’s motion.
According to court documents, the Whitefish Fire Department responded to an early morning fire on Oct. 8, 2013 on Highland Drive. One of the residents told police that a flash outside their window woke them. When they looked into their yard they found an oilcan and the siding on the house on fire. The resident put the fire out, but later the man noticed smoke was coming out of the light fixtures.
The homeowners told detectives that they believed their daughter’s ex-boyfriend, Langley, had set the fire. Langley denied the allegations and let police take a DNA sample from him. Later, Langley admitted that he was at the victims’ house early Oct. 8. The DNA evidence Langley voluntarily gave later connected him to the oilcan and he was charged with arson on Feb. 3, 2014.