Woman Found Guilty of Setting Fire to her Grandmother’s Home

Vivian Marion Hairston, 37, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty by a jury today for setting fire to her grandmother’s home in the Kingman Park neighborhood of Northeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu.

           Hairston was found guilty of arson with a senior citizen enhancement and destruction of property following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Honorable Michael O’Keefe scheduled sentencing for February 21, 2020.

           According to the government’s evidence, on May 2, 2019, Hairston went to her 78-year-old grandmother’s house and got into an argument with her mother about not being let inside the house due to her PCP use. Hairston told her mother that she would “be back,” and 15 minutes later she returned holding a gallon jug of yellow liquid and poured the liquid all over the enclosed front porch. She set a fire and left while her grandmother was asleep in the basement and her mother and other family members, including a 1-year-old, were inside. A few minutes later, family members saw smoke and ran out to see the porch on fire. The family was able to put the fire out before there was any major damage. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) determined that gasoline was used as an accelerant to light the fire. The jug was never recovered. A doorbell camera captured Hairston pouring a liquid onto the porch but unfortunately cut out before she set the fire.