Fellow inmate lays blame on defendant

A former inmate told the Oconee jury this morning that while in jail, Jacob Drotning admitted to him that he poured gasoline onto his wife and set her on fire.  Prior to the witness taking the stand, Assistant Solicitor Lindsey Simmons asked reporters to withhold the release of the witness’s name.  The witness insisted he received no favorable consideration of the charges pending against him and said he completed his time in prison.  When cross-examined by the defense attorney, the witness said he did not consider himself a jailhouse snitch.  He called himself a member of the Arian Brotherhood, but someone who felt that no one—regardless of his or her race—should be deliberately burned.  Drotning’s ex-wife, Katherine Cook, is Caucasian.  Two other prosecution witnesses testified this morning in the General Sessions Court trial:  real estate agent Danny Delmarco and auto repair business owner Kevin Spielman, who employed Drotning for a six-month period.