SAN DIEGO —— The hunter who admitted setting the deadly 2003 Cedar fire will not be spending any time behind bars. But Sergio Martinez will be on probation for the next five years and will spend six months in minimum-security confinement, which he will be allowed to leave for work and other commitments, U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez decided Thursday night.

Martinez's sentence —— which also includes restitution of $9,000 —— was handed down for his role in setting what became the largest wildfire in California's history, a blaze that killed 15 people and reduced more than 2,200 homes to ashes.

The novice hunter faced a maximum of five years in prison after pleading guilty in March to setting the Oct. 25, 2003, blaze to signal for help after he got lost in the thick, chest-high grass that once carpeted the Kessler Flats area of the Cleveland National Forest in San Diego county's backcountry.

"If I thought Mr. Martinez set the fire maliciously, five years (in prison) would not have been enough," Benitez said.

"The time that I impose, if any, is not going to bring any loved ones back," the judge added soon after. "It's not going to bring any property back."

Martinez said he was dehydrated and disoriented when he set the fire. Martinez cried while addressing the court before the sentencing.

"I would like to apologize to all the people who lost loved ones, family members, property and animals," Martinez said to a packed courtroom through his tears. "I pray for you every day. I know they are in a better place with God. I wish I was dead instead. This is killing me. I am sorry."

Fire victims also testify

After Martinez left the witness stand Thursday, Judge Benitez heard from 16 fire victims. Some blamed the fire on an allegedly slow response by officials and thus wanted leniency for Martinez; others wanted him to get the five-year maximum sentence.

As she addressed the judge, fire victim Kelly Williams turned to Martinez and said she had come to hear him say he was sorry.

"I was so glad when you said it," Williams, now an El Cajon resident, said. "When you said it, I could hear in your words that you meant it."

Williams, who lost everything when her Wildcat Canyon home burned down, went on to say that she forgave Martinez —— but still wanted him to spend five years in prison.

"If you spend five years in jail, it's like spending one day for each house you burned down."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lasater, who prosecuted the case, had pushed for Martinez to get the maximum sentence. When asked how he felt about Martinez's sentence, Lasater said little.

"We made our presentation and we believed it was appropriate," Lasater said.

Aside from probation and the six months in minimum-security confinement, Benitez also sentenced Martinez to 900 hours of community service, to be spent with an organization that helped rebuild communities after the fire. And the $9,000 restitution will get funneled to the U.S. Forest Service to help teach outdoor safety for hunters and hikers.

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Benitez said he was struck when he heard that Martinez had taken a course in hunting safety in 2002 and had learned from the course to set a fire if he got lost.

"He did exactly, exactly what he is supposed to do under those circumstances," Benitez said.

The judge went on to explain that Martinez's situation was different than that of a defendant who had been negligent by, say, tossing a cigarette butt out of a window.

The signal fire, fueled by dry vegetation and pushed by Santa Ana winds, tore through hundreds of thousands of acres in San Diego County, destroying parts of Poway, Ramona, Scripps Ranch and East County.

Lost in the brush

In the most complete version Martinez has recounted publicly of the events leading to the fire, he admitted that the night before his foray into the forest, he had smoked marijuana by himself and slipped the pipe and lighter in the pocket of his hunting vest.

He said he had not smoked marijuana on the day of the trip. Investigators looking into the fire later found Martinez's glass marijuana pipe about 30 feet from the spot where the fire had started.

Martinez said that he was following his hunting buddy, Ronald Adkins, but they were separated around 10 a.m. when Adkins was ahead of him in the tall brush.

"I didn't call out because he was all paranoid about my making noise (that might disturb the deer)," Martinez said. "I should have said something, but I didn't."

It was then, Martinez said, that he began wandering through the brush, up and down hills.

"To this day, I don't know which direction I went," Martinez said, adding later: "Little did I know I was going in the wrong direction."

Martinez said he took along a canteen of water, but had failed to fill it entirely. He said he wandered a bit, the day got hotter, and fear of dehydration set in.

"The more I tried to find my way, the deeper I was getting," Martinez said. "I was going in circles. Everything was looking the same."

He said he started falling down hills and, at some point, lost his prescription sunglasses. His thirst was getting worse, he said, and was "sucking the life out of me."

He fell many times, he said, and claimed he sprained his ankle when it got caught in rock.

Finally, he said, he gathered sticks and set them on fire. "I hated to do it," he said, adding that he put that first fire out, then shortly thereafter decided to set another signal fire.

"That wasn't Sergio up there," Martinez said. "That was a man who was dying."

San Diego County Sheriff's Department deputies, in a helicopter searching the forest for Martinez, soon rescued him.

Sending a message

After Martinez testified, fire victims got their time before the judge.

Donna Mulholland, who lived in an East County community devastated by the fires, tossed a whistle —— the kind used by hunters to signal for help if they get lost —— on the desk in front of Martinez.

"It's a gift to Mr. Martinez from the community," Mulholland said. "Next time you get lost, head west. When your feet are wet, then start fires."

Benitez rejected requests by some fire victims who spoke in court Thursday to give Martinez the maximum five-year sentence in order to "send a message."

"I'd like to send a message that … the law doesn't lack compassion and understanding," Benitez said.

Benitez said he had "struggled with the case for several months now" and wondered aloud if it would be just to send the West Covina man to prison for five years, and see him lose his longtime job.

After learning he would be avoiding jail time, Martinez told the throng of reporters gathered outside of the courthouse that, "God has given me a second chance."

Later, as Martinez crossed the street to leave, an extremely agitated stranger confronted him. Martinez and his family sought refuge back at the courthouse. The stranger followed, cursing and yelling, apparently upset that Martinez had received probation.

Staff writer Hayne Palmour contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-3517 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.