Brazil's Law To Aid Pang? -- Extradition Treaty Could Shorten Prison Sentence He Might Face

Martin Pang might benefit from his flight to Brazil after all.

If convicted, the man accused of killing four Seattle firefighters in an arson might be spared a life sentence because of provisions of the U.S.-Brazil extradition treaty.

That's the position of a spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, who said yesterday Pang could receive no worse penalty in the United States than he would in Brazil for the same crime.

Under Brazilian law, that would be 30 years, the spokesman said. With 15 percent time off for good behavior in Washington state prisons, that could be a sentence of 25 1/2 years. Pang, now 39, could walk out a free man at about age 65.

Pang's attorney, Allen Ressler of Seattle, says the sentence could be even less. Ressler said the most applicable crime under Brazilian law is a charge for "death of fire with no intention to kill." That crime carries a maximum penalty of 16 years, however.

That interpretation of the treaty is far from iron-clad, however. Others say the treaty would have no impact on Pang's sentence, or that the impact would be less than the consular official says.

John Russell, a Justice Department spokesman in Washington, D.C., said he believes the treaty would have no effect on the sentence.

And at least one Brazilian expert agreed. Aloisio Borba, chief of extradition for Brazil's federal police in Rio, said criminal sentences cannot be limited by Brazil unless the death penalty is involved.

In Pang's case, King County prosecutor Norm Maleng has said he will seek a life sentence for Pang and not the death penalty.

In Seattle, Dan Satterberg, chief of staff for the King County prosecutor's office, said the treaty might allow Pang to cut his potential sentence from life down to a minimum of 68 years in prison.

Pang is accused of being responsible for the torching of his parents' business, the Mary Pang Food Products Inc. warehouse in Seattle's International District, on Jan. 5. Four firefighters died battling the blaze, and Pang is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and a fifth count - added by prosecutors last Friday - of first-degree arson.

Satterberg said the arson charge was added to clarify for Brazilian authorities exactly what Pang is accused of doing, and to avoid any difficulties with Brazilian law.

Under U.S. law, the act of arson is simply one element of the crime of murder in a case like this one. Under Brazilian law, the arson must be spelled out as a separate crime.

Federal officials suggested the amended charges "only as a precaution in the remote event this issue arose," Satterberg said.

Ressler said his client might be able to avoid murder charges altogether and just face the arson charge.

Sentences for first-degree arson range from two years to life in prison.

Ressler said Pang might fight extradition based on differences between U.S. and Brazilian definitions of murder.

"It behooves us to attempt to get whatever benefit we could for Martin," Ressler said. "If that includes limiting the amount of exposure he has, then that's what we are going to do. I'm going to try to get every possible benefit that I can for him."

Ressler hired a Brazilian attorney yesterday to represent Pang in Rio, where he has been jailed since being arrested Thursday night.

Two other people held for extradition - an American and a German - are sharing a 12-by-15-foot cell with Pang on the bottom floor of the 118-year-old federal detention center in Rio.

"He exercises all the time," said Eleuterio Parracho, superintendent of the federal police. "He's calm, normal, not causing any problems."

Pang is allowed outside his cell to a gated, guarded prison yard for a 2 1/2-hour "sun shower" each day, Parracho said.

"He is being treated like any Brazilian," Parracho said.

Pang had his first visitor yesterday afternoon. Eileen Amer, vice consul for American Citizens' Service, said she talked with him for 30 minutes in "a routine visit to make sure he wasn't being mistreated."