Basil Eleby’s case is being transferred to Fulton County behavioral court.

Prosecutors say it is the right track for the accused I-85 arsonist since he has been working hard to treat his addiction.

“I’d rather be sober than be the other way around,” Eleby told reporters outside the Fulton County court house Friday. “It’s a whole lot better.”

Now 79 days sober, Eleby says this arrest turned his life around.

“I never thought I’d get to this point,” Eleby said. “To get another chance because there are so many people out there who didn’t get another chance.”

He added, “So many people out there who are still where I was a couple of months ago – out in the cold and out in the rain, and they feel like they just don’t have no way out.

“Those people – they are human; most low people are just looking for a way out and they just need a chance. They just need people to believe in them.”

If Eleby successfully completes the 18-month program, the arson charges will be dropped.

“Good luck Mr. Eleby,” Judge Constance Russell said after the hearing. “Go forth and do well. Don’t let me read about you.”

Atlanta police alleged Eleby set fire to a shopping cart underneath I-85 last spring. The blaze eventually spread to construction material the Georgia Department of Transportation stored under the bridge and caused a chunk of the busy highway to collapse.

The highway reopened six weeks later, ahead of schedule, and Eleby was charged with arson.

An arson conviction for Eleby could have resulted in a severe felony sentence, but WSB senior legal analyst Ron Carlson says prosecutors would have had an uphill battle proving it.

“That charge requires – under Georgia law – number one, the suspect intentionally set the fire; there were witnesses to that,” Carlson explains. “However, number two, [that] when he did so, he realized the blaze would endanger human life.

“With his reported mentality of about a 15-year-old, that mental element of the charge might have been difficult for the state to prove.”

Outside court Friday, Eleby’s attorneys maintained his innocence.

“Basil was unfairly accused of something he did not do,” attorney Lawrence Zimmerman said. “We presented evidence from day one from polygraph tests to alibi witnesses to the state of Georgia that Basil had nothing to do with this fire whatsoever.”

Zimmerman added, “The state’s been very gracious. They saw all the evidence and they also realized there was no case against Basil.

“The Atlanta Police Department made a mistake.”

He concluded by saying, “This is what we call justice. I’ve gotten so many phone calls from so many people around the country, from engineers that work on highways – everybody wanting to help out.

“So many people believing in Basil, knowing that charging him with arson was ridiculous.”

Mawuli Davis, another of Eleby’s attorneys, echoed Zimmerman’s sentiments. “Basil made it clear and has been consistent that if anything we did [would] require him to enter a plea of guilty, he would not do it – period.

“What he was crystal clear about was that he did not set that bridge fire; he didn’t do anything that caused it to catch fire and was not present when any fire was burning.”

Davis added, “People can say what they want. This man stands here knowing that entering this program is in his best interest as a human being, but that he is an innocent man and will remain so.”

Before his arrest, Eleby had been homeless for about 10 years. Outside court Friday, Eleby told reporters of his hopes and dreams going forward. “I want to live and I’m going to keep pushing forward. I wanna start my own mobile detail business, or get into computers; I like computers.

“And I like cleaning stuff; taking something that looks dead and making it look alive again.

Eleby concluded his remarks by saying, “At first I couldn’t see the blessings I was getting out of this, but through all this crazy stuff happening and through all this time, God just took it and turned it around and gave me what I was asking for in the first place – to stay sober and to get a new way of life.”