Jury takes less than an hour to find man guilty of arson for setting dad’s Lakewood home on fire

In less than an hour Wednesday, a jury convicted a man of arson after he set fire to his father’s Lakewood home, despite Connor Kirkpatrick saying it was a suicide attempt.

Kirkpatrick, 30, was found guilty of residential arson, a Class 1 felony, and arson. The more serious Class 1 felony carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. He initially was charged with Class X aggravated arson, which could have sent him to prison for up to 30 years, according to records in McHenry County court.

In closing arguments Wednesday, Kirkpatrick’s defense attorney, William Bligh, asked jurors not to “let the state criminalize [Kirkpatrick’s] pain. Don’t let the state criminalize his attempt at suicide.”

Kirkpatrick did not intend to burn his father’s house down May 20, 2023; he only intended to start the fire, go to his bedroom, lie down and die of smoke inhalation, Bligh said in closing arguments, echoing what Kirkpatrick said from the witness stand Tuesday.

When Kirkpatrick made confessions, he “said what police wanted to hear,” and when they got a confession, the investigation stopped, Bligh said. There also was no DNA, fire expert testimony or fingerprints presented at trial, Bligh said.

Bligh referred to Kirkpatrick’s testimony when the defendant described how he pondered various ways to kill himself that morning to end the pain he felt.

“Day after day after day after day,” Kirkpatrick was suffering excruciating pain, Bligh said. “He wanted to drift off on his bed and die from the smoke that would come from the garage. He wanted to do himself harm. He wanted to kill himself.”

That pain Kirkpatrick said he deals with daily is from injuries he suffered July 27, 2022, when he crashed his SUV into the side of a Crystal Lake house and seriously injured the homeowner. In that case, Kirkpatrick is charged with criminal damage to property, aggravated reckless driving and reckless conduct, court records show. The case still is pending and is up in court June 12, the same day as sentencing in the arson case, records show.

Kirkpatrick was on pretrial release on the Crystal Lake charges and living with his father, who was in Florida, when he started the fire. Kirkpatrick was taken back into custody at the McHenry County jail about two weeks after the fire, when he was released from a mental health facility in Waukegan, police and prosecutors said. He has been in jail since.

Prosecutors pushed back on the defense’s argument in closing arguments, reminding jurors that they are not to cast a verdict based on “sympathy.” Kirkpatrick “knowingly” started the fire, Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Brodersen said.

“Where there is smoke, there is fire, and where there is fire, something has to burn,” Brodersen said. “He knew what was going to happen,” Brodersen said, referring to the defendant’s testimony that he trailed gas through the home, starting at a pile of branches and yard waste in the garage, where he lit the fire.

“You don’t get to ignore consequences of your actions,” Brodersen said, adding that Kirkpatrick didn’t care about the possibility of hurting neighbors or damaging his father’s house, where he also lives.

Brodersen reminded jurors of the trial testimony of two Lakewood police officers and recordings each had of Kirkpatrick confessing to starting the fire. The prosecutor also referred to a text that Kirkpatrick sent his parents the night before, in which he wrote, “I wanna set everything on fire and watch it burn.”

“He told you what he did. ... He projected it the night before when he sent the text message, then he went ahead and did it,” Brodersen said, adding that Kirkpatrick used his father’s home as kindling.

The fire caused about $340,000 in damage; about $90,000 was paid out of pocket by his father, the prosecutor said.

“It is without a doubt [Kirkpatrick] started the fire. He set the house ablaze, and he walked away. ... He gutted that house,” Assistant State’s Attorney Justin Neubauer said, holding pictures showing the damage. “Sympathy does not say he is not guilty. ... Don’t let smoke cloud your judgment.”

Referring to Kirkpatrick’s testimony that he was in “blinding pain” at the time, Neubauer said Kirkpatrick didn’t call for a doctor or ambulance. Instead, he sent a text to his parents, started the fire hours later, watched it burn for two hours, threw cigarettes and a lighter in a garbage can, and walked away.