Rod Anderson, other convicts in the Hereford House fire, lose their appeal for new trial

In a lengthy and complicated ruling, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals denied new trials requested by Rod Anderson and two others convicted of burning down the Hereford House in 2008.

Anderson, the well-known restaurateur, was convicted in 2012 of conspiring with Mark Sorrentino and Vincent Pisciotta to torch the downtown steakhouse. Federal prosecutors claimed that Anderson, facing mounting financial pressure, got Sorrentino and Pisciotta to set an early morning fire on October 20, 2008, at the building at 20th Street and Main while Anderson was out of town. The implication was that Anderson wanted to do away with a struggling business and collect the insurance money.

Much of Thursday’s  court ruling dealt with questions about legal procedures, such as whether Anderson, Sorrentino and Pisciotta were victims of double jeopardy (they weren’t, the appellate judges decided) or Anderson should have been tried separately (he shouldn’t have, the ruling said).

Perhaps the most intriguing element of the appeal was new evidence offered up by Sorrentino. His ex-wife, Jenifer Sorrentino, testified for the prosecution that she was at home the morning of the fire when Mark Sorrentino came home reeking of gasoline. (Fire investigators found gas cans at the scene of the blaze.) She said her ex-husband’s jeans required multiple rounds in the washing machine to get the gas stench out. 

At trial, Mark Sorrentino’s lawyers argued that his wife was not at home when she said she was, but rather at the casinos. As proof, they showed that her casino card was in use that morning.

Jenifer Sorrentino testified that she sometimes let her relatives use her casino card, which she said would explain the player’s card activity during the morning in question.

Mark Sorrentino now argues that telephone records show that he placed a phone call from his house’s landline to his ex-wife’s cell phone about an hour and a half after the Hereford House fire started. The purpose of the call: Mark Sorrentino was at home and wanted to find out why she wasn’t. 

But appellate judges decided that even with this information in hand, it wouldn’t be enough to warrant a new trial because the government’s case didn’t hinge on one person’s testimony.

Pisciotta, 60, is serving out his prison sentence in Bastrop, Texas.

Sorrentino was assigned to a low-security prison in Forrest City, Arkansas.

The 62-year-old Anderson is also in Forrest City and isn’t expected out until 2025, if ever.