– Wyatt Buchanan
Saturday, April 9, 2005
The Santa Clara County district attorney has decided not to file criminal charges in the electrocution of a county fire captain who died after touching a downed power line at a house fire in Los Gatos. Investigators from the county Fire Department, Sheriff’s Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had asked the district attorney to seek involuntary manslaughter charges against the owners of the home. But in a statement released Friday, Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu said Mark McCormack’s death had been indirectly caused by residents’ inattention to burning incense in the home. Mere inattention is not sufficient grounds on which to file an involuntary manslaughter charge, Sinunu said.