Burning Man Arson Trial to Begin

Mike Stewart, a Nevada land owner who set fire to "La Contessa," a Burning Man "art galleon" stored on land he owned, will stand trial for the burning this week, according to the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

 

The owners of La Contessa had reached an agreement to store the boat on the land's former owners. Stewart burnt the boat without trying to contact La Contessa's owners first, the newspaper reported.

 

La Contessa was a boat built around a bus. The bus then drove around the Burning Man playa, making it appear -- to some -- that it was in fact sailing around the desert.

 

Stewart torched La Contessa in Dec. 2006 in Gerlach, Nevada, the newspaper reported. He is being sued in state court under "a conversion claim," which alleges he acted in a malicious and negligent manner.