Judge: Arson suspect's past relevant

A Carpentersville man's past could come back to haunt him if he goes to trial later this year on allegations he set fire to an occupied Algonquin restaurant.

A McHenry County judge ruled Monday jurors deciding the case of Jose R. Rivera will hear that he was found guilty of setting fire inside his high school six years ago.

The decision is a setback to Rivera's defense as it prepares for an Oct. 1 trial on an aggravated arson charge.

The charge alleges Rivera, 21, started a fire inside the women's bathroom of Mandile's Ristorante in June 2005. No one was injured in the fire.

In the two-page decision handed down Monday, Judge Joseph Condon agreed with defense claims that allowing Rivera's juvenile record to be presented at trial could be prejudicial to the defendant.

The record includes a juvenile conviction for setting two small fires inside Dundee-Crown High School in 2001.

As with the 2005 fire, authorities say Rivera initially claimed to have started the fire accidentally with a cigarette lighter.

Because of those similarities, Condon said, the evidence's value to jurors outweighs the prejudicial effects.

"The Kane County juvenile court (finding) is probative to the defendant's intent, lack of mistake and of defendant's modus operandi," the judge wrote.