Vasile Graure, the Arizona truck driver convicted of setting fire to Glover Park strip club Good Guys in 2007, will be sentenced tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. The sentencing has been postponed several times already this year. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll finally get it over with.

On November 20, 2008, Graure was convicted of the following charges:

- Three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed

- Four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon

- One count of aggravated assault while armed

- One count of mayhem while armed

- Two counts of burglary in the second degree while armed

- One count of arson

- One count of felony destruction of property

Here’s what he could face on those charges:
- Assault With Intent to Kill While Armed (three counts): 30 years per count

- Assault With a Dangerous Weapon (four counts): 10 years per count

- Aggravated Assault While Armed: 30 years

- Mayhem While Armed: 30 years

- Arson: 10 years

- Burglary II While Armed (two counts): 30 years per count

- Felony Destruction of Property: 10 years

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

- Assault With Intent to Kill While Armed (three counts): 30 years per count
- Assault With a Dangerous Weapon (four counts): 10 years per count
- Aggravated Assault While Armed: 30 years
- Mayhem While Armed: 30 years
- Arson: 10 years
- Burglary II While Armed (two counts): 30 years per count
- Felony Destruction of Property: 10 years

I’ll update later today with Richter’s decision. Until then, you can read my comprehensive trial coverage here. It was a doozy.

Defense lawyer Andrew Ferguson argued that several of the eight individuals named in the case were “misnamed and misidentified,” noting that a few never appeared to testify in front of the jury, some were unable to be located by the defense, and one, Jessica Schaeffer, was referred to in court almost exclusively by her stripper name, “Golden.” Ferguson also argued that the charge of “intent to kill” the eight individuals named had no precedent in District of Columbia arson cases—and that alighting a building did not equate to an intent to kill specific individuals.

Judge Robert Richter called the argument “silly” and said it could be argued that the people inside the strip club and close to the blaze were within a reasonable “zone of danger.” Richter denied the defense’s motion to have the charges dropped, leaving the jury to decide whether “pouring gasoline on someone and lighting them on fire” equated to an intent to kill.

Later, the customer removed his cell phone and took a photo of Gabriella. She came over to him and held out her hand for the phone, Raucci says. The man gave it to her. She waved her finger at him, as if to say, “don’t do that.” She put the phone by her purse and resumed dancing. He continued to offer her money as she danced. She ignored him.

When she left the stage, Raucci says, Gabriella gave the phone to a manager—nit not Lazorchack. The three of them spoke briefly. The music was too loud to hear. Eventually, the man paid his bill and left. Raucci didn’t see Lazorchack escort him out, he says.

At the bachelor party near Raucci, a waitress was helping a Marine remove his over-shirt and put on a Good Guys tee. Raucci heard a commotion near the door. He saw two individuals grappling. He identified one as the man with the cell phone. In court, he points to the defendant—Vasile Graure.  He had a small flame in his hand. That’s when the flame erupted into a “huge fireball,” he says.

At 10:30 this morning, the prosecution called Arefaine Berhane, an employee of the Glover Park Chevron station, to the stand. Berhane, who is Eritrean, speaks English at the Chevron station but appeared with a translator in court.

Berhane took over cashier duties at the Wisconsin Ave. Chevron at around 8 p.m. on the night of the fire. His first customer entered the small store attached to the station and told Berhane his car was out of gas. The customer asked to buy a red gas can with a yellow and black cap. Berhane told him the price of the gas can with tax, took the customer’s money, and then gave him his change. The customer left, tried to fill the can with some gas outside, then returned to Berhane and asked to pay for the gasoline with cash. He also asked to buy a lighter.

Berhane told the customer the price of the smallest lighter, plus tax. “Do you have tax on everything?” the customer asked him. “I then joked with him, and said that if you keep asking, I’ll tax you on what you’re saying as well.”

The customer asked Berhane if he had any children. He asked their age. He asked where they were. Berhane told them that they were back in Eritrea. The customer told him it would be great if they could join him here. Then, Berhane sold the man a red lighter to match the color of the gas can.

The man left without getting his change. Berhane expected he would come back once he’d filled his car’s tank with gas. The customer never returned. Instead, Berhane says, he heard a rush of sirens. Police descended on the Chevron station. It wasn’t long before Berhane realized that their questioning had something to do with the gas can he sold.