Door County bar fire, man sentenced for reckless homicide
STURGEON BAY, Wis. - A Wisconsin man has been sentenced to prison for a Sturgeon Bay bar fire that killed two people and destroyed a building in 2022.
A jury convicted 60-year-old Anthony Gonzalez of reckless homicide, among other charges, in January. He was sentenced on Friday to 15 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision.
Gonzalez told investigators he accidentally started the fire in his room above Butch's Bar when he was trying to refill a cigarette lighter.
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Gonzalez's attorney, Aileen Henry, argued the building lacked fire safety equipment and that Gonzalez wasn't reckless because he tried to extinguish the fire and knocked on the doors of other residents to alert them to the fire.
Authorities said nine rooms above Butch's Bar were rented at the time. The bodies of two tenants were found in the rubble of the burned building and were taken to Madison for identification. A third individual was injured in the fire and taken to a Milwaukee burn center.
Henry said in January she plans to appeal the verdict after sentencing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
