A man who was sentenced to 20 years in prison this morning for setting his former girlfriend on fire stared angrily at the victim as the sentence was imposed.

Kim R. Massey, 53, was tried three times on charges including attempted murder, assault and arson after he poured gasoline on her and set her on fire in October 2006.
“I have to tell you Mr. Massey, I have been a prosecutor and a judge for 25 years. I don’t think I have ever seen anything as cruel as pouring gasoline on somebody and then lighting them on fire,” Circuit Judge Steven Alm said.
Alm called the trial testimony of the victim, Marie Siarot, 54, “chillingly compelling.”
Deputy Prosecutor Jeen Kwak argued for the 20-year sentence.
“Suffering 30 to 40 percent body burns, third-degree, is the most painful experience anybody can go through,” Kwak said.
Siarot “deserved none of that,” said Kwak.
Before he was sentenced, Massey apologized.
“I would like to apologize to Marie Siarot for the injuries she sustained in the fire. She did not deserve that. No one deserves that,” Massey said.
Siarot was in the gallery for the sentencing but chose not to speak.
Outside court, she said she was glad the long court ordeal is over but she will have to live with what Massey did to her for the rest of her life.
“He was still looking at me with hate,” Siarot said of the stares Massey directed at her in court.
Deputy Public Defender Debra Loy argued against the 20-year sentence request by the state.
“Mr. Massey does not deserve the sentence that the state is asking for,” Loy said.
“As far as what’s reality, what he believes, what he knows, he did not intend to harm Miss Siarot,” Loy told Alm.
Massey “was reckless in his actions,” she said.
“That does not dispute the bodily injury, it does not dispute the pain and suffering Miss Siarot had,” Loy continued.
“We are disputing the mental state with which Mr. Massey acted,” she said.