Judge sentences man who lit homeless person on fire to 16 years in prison

A Spokane judge on Thursday sentenced a man to 16 years in prison for setting a homeless person on fire last year, the Spokane County Prosecutor's Office announced Thursday.

In September, 57-year-old Dupree Meadows walked up to 40-year-old David Karn, who was on one of the sidewalks under the Browne Street viaduct, and doused him in gasoline. Meadows then lit him on fire.

Karn, on fire, was able to flag down a police officer. He was taken to the hospital and flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he was in critical condition for burns covering two-thirds of his body, The Spokesman-Review reported.

Karn picked Meadows out of a photo lineup and told police they had known each other for 10 years.

A jury last month convicted Meadows of first-degree assault and agreed he used a deadly weapon in the commission of the crime.

According to the release from the prosecutor's office, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Julie McKay imposed the higher end of sentencing because the act of dousing another person with gasoline is "horrific" and to light them on fire is "incomprehensible."

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