The highest court in the tiny French principality of Monaco has cleared the way for the trial of Ted Maher, the American nurse accused of setting a fire in 1999 that claimed the life of billionaire banker Edmond Safra and another nurse.

Monaco's Court of Revisions denied a bid by Safra's brothers for additional pretrial investigation into the blaze that gutted Safra's fortress-like penthouse above a bank building he owned in Monte Carlo. The ruling was the last obstacle keeping an investigative judge, a sort of one-person grand jury, from closing his investigation and recommending charges against Maher, a 43-year-old former Green Beret from Stormville, N.Y.

Maher was on duty caring for his 67-year-old patient, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, when the fire broke out in the wee hours of Dec. 3, 1999. Maher, suffering from stab wounds, stumbled into the lobby of the building to report the fire and the presence of two masked intruders.

Police kept firefighters from entering the building for at least an hour after Maher was rushed to the hospital for treatment. By then, however, it was too late for Safra and nurse Vivian Torrente. Both were found dead in a dressing room, overcome by toxic fumes from the blaze.

Initially hailed as a hero, Maher was soon portrayed as the villain. Prosecutors say he set a fire in his room, stabbed himself and concocted a story about intruders in an ill-fated effort to get on his wealthy patient's good side.

Maher's family believes that he was attacked by intruders and that a confession was coerced. The defendant himself, however, told another judge that he informed his family that the confession was true and they refused to believe it. Maher sent a letter to Prince Rainier III last year complaining that, although he started a small fire in his room, he fears he is being made a scapegoat for the failure of police to let firefighters extinguish the blaze and rescue Safra and Torrente.

Edmond Safra

Defense lawyer Donald Manasse refused to discuss his client's actions on the day of the fire in detail but said the defense's position about the charges remains the same. Maher, Manasse said, never intended to burn down the penthouse or harm Safra and Torrente in any way.

Hullin is expected to close the pretrial investigation before his term as interim examining magistrate is up in two weeks. One option available to Hullin is a recommendation that Maher face a criminal tribunal of three judges and three jurors on a charge of arson causing deaths, crimes punishable by life in prison.

Another option is to recommend a charge of involuntary homicide, which would be tried before three judges; the lesser charge is punishable by up to six years in prison.

Manasse said he and co-counsel George Blot met with Maher at a Monaco prison Wednesday and informed him that the trial could be held as early as June.

"There are more than 2,000 documents in the case of one sort or another. I presume [Judge Hullin] will have read the case thoroughly and won't just be stamping something that was prepared for him by the previous judge," Manasse said. "He could dismiss the case, which is unfortunately unlikely. He could hold them over as criminal charges or he could reduce the charges, modify them. He would only be making the recommendation."

If Maher is prosecuted on the more serious arson charge, he could appeal and argue that either involuntary homicide or aggravated assault are more appropriate. Manasse declined to speculate on what the defense might do in that event.

Maher's wife, who is also a registered nurse, said the defendant's family is anxious to see the case move forward and remains hopeful that Hullin will recommend reduced charges, if not a dismissal. Heidi Maher said that, while she welcomes a trial, she still fears the outcome because of the power and money still associated with the Safra name.

"I'm looking forward to the trial, yet I'm still afraid," Heidi Maher, 30, said Wednesday. "We just want him home."

Ted Maher, who staged a hunger strike last year to protest his treatment by the first examining magistrate, has a positive attitude and stands ready to answer questions posed by the presiding judge at his trial — regardless of the jurisdiction, his lawyer said.

"He's determined, he's strong. He will participate effectively in his own defense," Manasse said. "His morale is good, I think, under the circumstances."