Terminally ill convicted arsonist gets early release from prison
Aug. 24—A former Derry Township man who has served more than two decades in prison for hiring an arsonist to set fire to three properties will be allowed to die at home, a judge ruled Thursday.
Donald Queer, 66, was convicted in 2001 of multiple counts of arson and related offenses for his role in three fires set in 1998 and 1999 to a house in Cook Township, a Derry Township mobile home where his estranged girlfriend lived and a Derry car dealership.
Queer has since been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
"He has one to two months at most to live. It's a terminal condition, so we're seeking a compassionate release," defense attorney Dolly Prabhu said.
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio ruled Queer can live out his last days in hospice care at the Derry Township home of his niece. Queer will be taken by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections from his current location in Somerset County and will be required to be connected to a home electronic monitoring device, the judge said.
Queer was convicted after a lengthy trial two decades ago and was sentenced to serve 28 to 59 years in prison. At trial, prosecutors argued he paid another man $400 to set fires as vengeance for prior slights. Queer wanted fires set at the home of a former employer who fired him, his estranged girlfriend's mobile home and a car dealership from which he had purchased a vehicle.
According to reports of the trial that appeared in the Tribune-Review and in court records, Queer's former girlfriend and her son were inside their mobile home and were able to escape the blaze. They identified Queer's truck at the fire scene.
Witnesses testified firebombs fueled with gas-filled beer bottles were used to set the blazes.
Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramitaro prosecuted the arson cases in 2001. In court Thursday, he conceded Queer's medical condition qualified him for an early release from prison but said the district attorney's office objected to the defense motion after consulting with two of the fire victims.
"At the end of the day, Mr. Queer has not fully served his sentence, and, regardless of the jury verdict, Mr. Queer never accepted responsibility for these arsons," Ciaramitaro said.
Queer maintained his innocence at trial and throughout years of appeals.
Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich by email at rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .
