2 admit torching church near Athens

 WINDER, Ga.  - Two of the three men charged with torching New Life Deliverance Church in 2005 pleaded guilty Monday in Barrow County Superior Court.

Maurice Arnold, 25, the son of the church's former pastor, and 48-year-old Bruce Edward Smith of Monroe, Ga., pleaded guilty to first-degree arson charges.

Prosecutors believe the Rev. Quincy Arnold, 50, of Lawrenceville, asked his son to burn down the Barrow County church in December 2005, and say Maurice Arnold hired Smith to help. All three were arrested last year.

Quincy Arnold denies having anything to do with the arson. He is expected to stand trial in October on charges of first-degree arson, insurance fraud, vandalizing a place of worship and conspiracy to commit a crime, District Attorney Brad Smith said Monday.

Maurice Arnold's unexpected guilty plea does not affect the case against his father, Assistant District Attorney James Knox said.

"His father either got him to do it or had a part in planning it," Knox said. "So this does not affect that case."

In addition to arson, Maurice Arnold pleaded guilty to vandalizing a place of worship and conspiracy to commit a crime - but stipulated that he conspired only with Smith, not his father.

Prosecutors did not offer Maurice Arnold any special sentencing recommendation in return for his plea, Knox said.

"Nothing about it was negotiated," he said.

Barrow County Superior Court Judge Currie Mingledorff scheduled Maurice Arnold's sentencing for July 21, and he will be held in the Barrow County Detention Center until then.

Mingledorff did not require Arnold to describe details of the arson as part of his plea.

Investigators at the time of the fire believed that arsonists kicked in the church door shortly before 4 a.m. Dec. 7, 2005, poured gasoline down the aisle from the pulpit to the back of the church and set it ablaze. The fire gutted the sanctuary, but the exterior of the building, which is on Pierce Road between Winder and Carl, was not heavily damaged.

Investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives led the initial inquiry, but federal prosecutors declined to prosecute the case and turned it over the Barrow County Sheriff's Office in 2009, Knox said.

The sheriff's office uncovered new details that led to the arrests, he said.

Smith has cooperated with investigators and agreed to testify at Quincy Arnold's trial, Knox told Mingledorff.

Smith pleaded guilty to a single count of first-degree arson.

Mingledorff agreed to sentence him to two years in prison and 15 years of probation, and to suspend the prison time if Smith agrees to highly supervised probation. He also will have to pay a $1,000 fine and $258,000 in restitution - which Smith, who receives disability payments from the state, probably will not be able to pay, Mingledorff said.

Not being able to pay restitution will not violate the provisions of probation unless he becomes able to work or unexpectedly comes into some money, Mingledorff said.

The judge asked Smith to recount details from the day of the arson, but Smith told him he was so high on methamphetamine at the time that he couldn't remember anything except that he was at the church.

He has entered into drug treatment and now has been clean for almost two years, Smith told the judge.

Knox would not say how prosecutors think Maurice Arnold became acquainted with Smith, who is 20 years his senior and from another county.

"We know, but we don't want to discuss that before the trial," Knox said.

Smith had a history of arrests before he was picked up in August 2009 in connection to the arson, but he never had been convicted of a serious crime, Knox said.

Maurice Arnold has two felony drug convictions on his record, Knox said.