The court battle over the Woodgrains Furniture arson case will be completely different from what it would have been if the trial had been held in October as originally scheduled.

Assistant Freeborn County Attorney David Walker amended the first-degree arson charge based on the use of accelerant. Now, the trial’s focus has shifted from an attempt to prove the presence of combustible residue to defendant Brian Purdie’s knowledge about the presence of other people in adjacent buildings at the time of the alleged arson, and the interpretation of damages the fire inflicted on those neighboring structures.

Under the Minnesota statute, an act can be first-degree arson when a fire is intentionally set on a building used as a dwelling; on any other building where people are present; or where a fire is set using a flammable material, or accelerant.

According to the criminal complaint and court hearings so far, the fire started shortly after 5 p.m. on Dec. 8, 2000 in the showroom area at Woodgrains, located at 310 S. Broadway.

The furniture store shares its walls with a building to the north owned by Mark Jones and to the south by Christian & Peterson law firm.

Purdie, who was the only person in his building, told police he found the fire and ran to the law firm to notify them of the fire but nobody replied. Meanwhile, Mark Jones, at his insurance office on the second floor, detected the odor of smoke and called 9-1-1 at 5:09 p.m.

In a hearing Thursday, Purdie testified that he did not know if anybody in the adjacent buildings was still working. But, Albert Lea Fire Department investigator Doug Johnson said besides Jones, there could have been one more person at Furniture Outlet, a tenant on the first floor of Jones’ building, who left work shortly after 5 p.m.

Defense attorney Stephen Erickson emphasized that the three buildings, though they share walls, are technically separated structures, indicating that each property owner receives a separate bill for their parking fees from the city. Purdie testified that the fire damage was contained in 10-by-10 foot area in the first-floor showroom.

But Johnson, a witness for the prosecutor, said there is an access between the Woodgrains building and Jones’ building on the second floor, and both Jones’ building and the law firm had smoke damage.

The prosecution strategy was changed after the trial was postponed due to Walker’s challenge to Judge John Chesterman’s ruling to suppress part of the testimony by a Bureau of Criminal Apprehension chemist about the findings of possible accelerant residue from the fire scene. Samples taken from the area, found by a combustible gas detector, turned out to be unable to prove the presence of accelerant.

Purdie has been saying a grapevine deer strung with Christmas lights was a possible origin of the fire, while the investigators concluded the burn pattern and intensity of heat in a very short period &045; the fire was extinguished in about 10 minutes &045; indicates the only possible cause of the fire is arson.

Erickson filed new evidence that a part of the extension cord that connected the lights with an outlet is missing. The 20-foot extension cord, purchased from Wal-Mart, according to Purdie, was taken away by an insurance adjuster two days after the fire. It was returned to the fire department afterward and has been kept in an evidence locker, but the female end of the cord has somehow disappeared.

Walker also hopes to strike testimony from a private fire investigator hired by the defense. He visited the scene and advised Purdie about taking photographs that were to be submitted to the court. The investigator’s license application was rejected by the state authority.

Chesterman will make a ruling as to which evidence can be used in the trial starting April

The judge also has issued a gag order, barring both the prosecutor and defense attorney from discussing the case with media.