3 life sentences given in 1993 Bloomfield fire

Linda McCutcheon lives with constant pain and disfigurement, the result of a 1993 Bloomfield fire that was set to cover up a burglary.

In a letter Tuesday asking for the maximum sentence for Daniel Carnevale -- the man convicted of setting the Columbia/Regal Apartments fire that killed three people -- McCutcheon told Common Pleas Judge Cheryl Allen that it took 10 years to recover from her burns.

"This is not the life that I wanted and dreamed of for myself," McCutcheon wrote. "For 14 years you were on a joy ride, on borrowed time. It was only a matter of time that all of your criminal acts caught up with you."

Allen sentenced Carnevale, 44, to three life sentences followed by 20 to 40 years in prison for his August conviction on second-degree murder, aggravated assault, arson and burglary charges.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer DiGiovanni has said Carnevale stole checks from mailboxes and lit the fire to cover up the theft.

"His family views this as a miscarriage of justice," said Carnevale's attorney, Frank Walker. "He was convicted on the testimony of a jailhouse informant."

Police arrested Carnevale in 2006 in Placerville, Calif., when a witness implicated him after hearing of a Tribune-Review Cold Case Files story about the fire.

Carnevale married a woman in California and has five stepchildren, Walker said. He has maintained his innocence.

Relatives of those who died in the fire also wrote letters or spoke in court yesterday.

Christopher Stahlman, 23, died after he jumped from a third-story window to escape the blaze, which destroyed the building.

Florence Lyczko, 63, died of smoke inhalation in her third-floor apartment; and the body of Anita Emory, 31, who also died of smoke inhalation, was found the next day in the basement under tons of debris from the collapse of the roof and third floor, according to testimony.