WARREN — Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Sarah Thomas Kovoor ruled Tuesday that Lisa Layne, 66, of Burnett Road in Leavittsburg was not guilty by reason of insanity in a Dec. 12, 2025, fire at the main entrance to the former Trumbull Regional Medical Center.

Fire investigators determined that there were people in the building at the time because the building manager told investigators with the State Fire Marshal’s Office that “security officers were typically always present,” according to court documents.

Investigators obtained surveillance video from the Sunoco gas station across the street from the East Market Street hospital entering the store Dec. 11 and buying a red gas container.

The Warren Police and Warren Fire Department Facebook pages posted the images of the woman and asked the public to identify her. Investigators got a tip Dec. 17 that the person was Layne, the document states.

On Dec. 18, Layne’s sister told investigators that Layne had started the fire and, because Layne “having several mental health issues lately,” she was in a hospital psychiatric ward. A fire marshal’s investigator spoke with Layne on Dec. 19, and she told him she initially bought lighter fluid and tried to start the fire with gasoline from the gas station.

But when that did not work, she bought the red gas container from the gas station and tried to start the fire with the gasoline. She stated that she also was not successful in starting the fire with the gasoline and that she smeared feces on a window. She said she told several family members what she had done.

The report stated that when Warren firefighters arrived at the former hospital the day of the incident for a “possible fire,” they found containers containing possible ignitable fluid near the door. The report did not indicate that anyone saw any evidence of a fire. But the report states that the state Fire Marshal’s Office found a red fuel container, a white lighter-fluid container a black nozzle for the red fuel container, a rag and a lighter.

The containers held liquid. The items were sent for testing at the State Fire Marshal’s Office lab. The report did not indicate what the analysis showed.

The report stated that no witnesses indicated seeing anyone in the area where the containers were found at around the time of the initial call for a possible fire.

Layne was indicted on attempted aggravated arson, a third-degree felony, Feb. 18.

After entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity March 2 in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, she was evaluated for sanity at the time of the alleged offense and competency to stand trial, the document states.

The report, written by Dr. Jessica Hart of the Forensic Psychiatric Center of Northeast Ohio in Austintown following the evaluations, stated that “at the time of the offenses charged, (the defendant) did not know the wrongfulness of her acts” and that “she presented with the symptoms of a severe mental disease, namely delusional thinking, religious preoccupation and bizarre behavior,” the document states.

The defense and Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office stipulated to those findings at an April 21 pretrial hearing and asked Kovoor to adopt those stipulated facts and find them to be true and accurate, the document adds. Kovoor did that at a hearing Tuesday. Kovoor also set a hearing for June 16 related to the next steps in the process — deciding where Layne will be housed.

PREVIOUS CASES

Layne was similarly found not guilty by reason of insanity in November 2010 in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court after being indicted in September 2009 on burglary and attempted aggravated arson.

She was ordered into the state mental hospital in Massillon. The docket in her case continued into 2018 but does not indicate how long she was at that facility. Vindicator archives state that the case involved a fire at a house on West Third Street, Niles, in May 2009.

Layne was also evaluated for competency and sanity in a 2004 case in which she was indicted on arson and convicted later that year. She was sent to prison for six months and ordered to pay restitution of about $44,000 to the Chicken Coop restaurant of Warren.

Layne also was convicted of misdemeanor arson in 2001 in Warren Municipal Court and was sentenced to several months in the Trumbull County jail. There is no indication that she was evaluated for competency or sanity in that case.

She was also indicted on a felony arson charge in 1999 and was evaluated in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court for competency and sanity. The court docket does not indicate what the results were. She pleaded guilty in January of 2000 to misdemeanor criminal damaging and criminal trespassing and was sentenced to six months in the Trumbull County jail.