Man sentenced to 16 years for setting victim on fire in downtown Spokane

SPOKANE, Wash. — Dupree L. Meadows, 57, was sentenced to 195 months in prison Thursday for dousing a man with gasoline and setting him on fire in a downtown Spokane viaduct.

A jury found Meadows guilty of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon last month. Judge Julie McKay also sentenced him to 36 months of community custody and ordered no contact with the victim for life.

The assault occurred in September 2025. Court documents showed Meadows walked up to a man in the viaduct, doused him with gasoline and lit him on fire.

The victim suffered burns over almost 70% of his body and was flown to Harborview Medical Center, where he spent months in treatment including more than a dozen procedures.

McKay imposed the maximum sentence, stating that dousing another living being with gasoline and lighting them on fire is incomprehensible.


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