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Thread: Ray Abou-Arab Sentenced to 20 Years in 2014 OH Arson Murders of Firefighters Stephen Machcinski and James Dickman

  1. #11
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    Trial in fatal fire delayed

    The trial of the man accused of setting fire to an apartment building that killed two Toledo firefighters nearly three years ago has been pushed back about two months, to early April, at defense lawyers’ request.

    Attorney Peter Rost told Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Stacy Cook on Tuesday he doesn’t believe a defense can be adequately prepared for Ray Abou-Arab, 63, in time to meet the Feb. 6 scheduled start of jury selection.

    Mr. Rost requested a delay until “late April or May,” but when the judge said the latest she could block out a period of two to three weeks to try the case was from April 3-21, the defense lawyer and prosecutors agreed to those dates.

    Mr. Abou-Arab, a former Oregon resident who owned the apartment building at 634 Magnolia St. that burned Jan. 26, 2014, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated arson, and nine other counts associated with that fire.

    Toledo Fire Pvts. Stephen Machcinski, 42, and James Dickman, 31, died in the fire. The aggravated murder charges against Mr. Abou-Arab carry death-penalty specifications.

    The rescheduling followed a bond hearing during which Mr. Rost asked that $4 million in bond related to the aggravated murder charges be dropped on the grounds that nothing in the “open-file” case record shows Mr. Abou-Arab intended to kill the firefighters who became trapped in the burning building.

    To support that assertion, Mr. Rost attempted to call Deborah Hahn, a Toledo police detective, as a witness during the hearing to testify about the state’s case related to those counts.

    But Judge Cook declined to allow the detective’s testimony, which Robert Miller, an assistant county prosecutor, said would amount to a “fishing expedition.”

    Mr. Rost then repeated that “not one shred of evidence” in written reports or findings revealed “any type of vendetta or grudge” on his client’s behalf toward the firefighters or the Toledo Fire Department.

    Reducing bond to the remaining $1.85 million related to the other charges, he said, would allow Mr. Abou-Arab to offer as security the value of a dozen properties belonging to residents and friends.

    Mr. Miller countered that having sold his home and his interest in a carryout adjoining the Magnolia Street site, Mr. Abou-Arab remained a flight risk even after he had surrendered his passport to police.

    Judge Cook ruled that Common Pleas Judge Frederick McDonald, who handled the case before his retirement in early 2015, had not set bond arbitrarily and that circumstances had not substantially changed since he had done so.

    Mr. Abou-Arab was returned to the Lucas County jail pending a Feb. 16 scheduling conference with attorneys and the judge.

    http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/20...e-delayed.html

  2. #12
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    Edited:

    Trial set for April in fire that killed firefighters

    Building owner could get death penalty

    By Jennifer Feehan
    Toledo Blade

    Lucas County’s only pending death-penalty case is set to go to trial April 3, a judge confirmed Thursday.

    Ray Abou-Arab, 63, of Oregon is accused of setting a fire more than three years ago that killed two Toledo firefighters. He could receive the death penalty if he is convicted in Lucas County Common Pleas Court of two counts of aggravated murder for the Jan. 26, 2014, deaths of Toledo fire Pvts. Stephen Machcinski, 42, and James Dickman, 31.

    Mr. Abou-Arab also is charged with two counts of murder, eight counts of aggravated arson, and one count of tampering with evidence for allegedly setting fire to a Magnolia Street building that he owned.

    http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/20...efighters.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #13
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    Death penalty off table for Abou-Arab

    By Jennifer Feehan
    The Toledo Blade

    Death-penalty specifications were dismissed today against an Oregon man charged with setting a fire that resulted in the deaths of two Toledo firefighters.

    Ray Abou-Arab, 64, is scheduled to go on trial next month in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, eight counts of aggravated arson, and one count of tampering with evidence for allegedly setting a Jan. 26, 2014 fire at a Magnolia Street building he owned. Killed in the fire were Toledo Fire Pvts. Stephen Machcinski, 42, and James Dickman, 31.

    At a pretrial hearing this afternoon, Jeff Lingo, chief of the special units division for the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, asked Judge Stacy Cook to dismiss the capital specifications.

    He said he was making the request after evaluating the evidence, interviewing witnesses, and talking it over with the victims' families, fire officials, and investigators.

    Judge Cook granted the request, and Mr. Abou-Arab now will face a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole if he is convicted of the aggravated murder charges.

    Mr. Abou-Arab, who is scheduled to go to trial April 24, had been the only defendant in Lucas County currently charged in a death-penalty case.

    Prosecutors may only seek capital specifications in certain circumstances outlined by state law. In Mr. Abou-Arab's case, the death specifications were brought by a grand jury on two grounds: for the purposeful killing of two or more persons and for committing aggravated murder in the commission of aggravated arson.

    Dropping the death-penalty specifications means his trial is not likely to take as long as originally expected. The court had set aside three weeks – roughly a week to seat a jury, a week for the trial, and a week for the sentencing phase in which defense attorneys provide reasons why the defendant should not be sentenced to death.

    The sentencing phase no longer will be necessary, and jury selection should not take nearly as long because prospective jurors will not have to be individually questioned about their views on the death penalty.

    http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/20...Abou-Arab.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #14
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Toledo firefighters’ deaths go to trial, 3 years later

    Building’s owner accused of setting blaze, faces life in prison

    By Jennifer Feehan
    The Toledo Blade

    Twice, Toledo Fire Pvt. James Dickman transmitted “Mayday” — the universal distress signal — before he and fellow firefighter Stephen Machcinski lost contact with crews fighting a fire inside a Magnolia Street building.

    “Command, this is Engine 3. I’m missing two firefighters,” a frantic officer from their engine radioed.

    Mr. Dickman and Mr. Machcinski had climbed into the burning North Toledo building through a second-floor window to do what firefighters do: Put down the blaze, search for occupants.

    They did not know that all of the occupants had gotten out safely, and they soon encountered such extreme heat and smoke that they were unable to do the same.

    Nearly 14 minutes after his first distress call, Mr. Dickman would be found and carried out of the building by colleagues short on oxygen and desperate to find their brothers. Another 10 minutes would pass before Mr. Machcinski would be located and rushed to Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center, where both men were pronounced dead.

    Killed in the line of duty. January 26, 2014.

    On Monday, the building owner accused of setting the deadly blaze is to go on trial in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

    Ray Abou-Arab, 64, of Oregon has been held in the Lucas County jail on a $5.85 million bond for more than three years awaiting this day. It’s been a long wait for Toledo firefighters too.

    “The prosecution did prepare us that it could take a while,” said Fire Chief Luis Santiago, who has attended nearly every hearing in the case. “We certainly paced ourselves for the long haul.”

    Because Mr. Abou-Arab was indicted on aggravated murder charges that carried death-penalty specifications, defense attorneys Pete Rost and Sam Kaplan filed an extraordinary number of motions in the case, including unsuccessful efforts to suppress surveillance video taken from the scene and recorded interviews with Mr. Abou-Arab in the days after the fire.

    In March, the capital specifications were dismissed at prosecutors’ request. They cited a re-evaluation of the evidence.

    It took more than a year for the court to hear and decide a dispute over an initial report that purportedly suggested the fire may have started in the kitchen of a first-floor apartment rather than in the garage — an assertion that directly contradicted the prosecution’s theory that Mr. Abou-Arab started the fire in the garage.

    Also adding to the delays was the need for experts on both sides to examine scientific evidence and, prior to the dismissal of the death-penalty specifications, work by experts who would have testified in the mitigation phase before sentencing if Mr. Abou-Arab was convicted on the capital charges.

    Jury selection, which is set to begin at 9 a.m. Monday before Judge Stacy Cook, is expected to last at least two days. A visit to the fire scene, where the charred building was cleared away long ago, tentatively is scheduled for Wednesday.

    Even without the death penalty hanging over his head, Mr. Abou-Arab, a retired Jeep worker, faces possible life sentences with no opportunity for parole if he is convicted on the most serious charges — two counts of aggravated murder for the deaths of Mr. Dickman, 31, and Mr. Machcinski, 42.

    He also stands charged with two counts of murder, eight counts of aggravated arson, and one count of tampering with evidence. The eight aggravated arson counts stem from the two firefighters’ deaths as well as injuries to firefighters George Simko, Ronald Magers, and Ronald Kay and to three occupants of the building, Tracy Bishop, James Brooks, and Patricia Rollins.

    Family members of Mr. Abou-Arab who have attended every court appearance since his arrest declined to comment for this story. A gag order imposed early on in the case prevented defense attorneys and prosecutors from discussing the upcoming trial with the media.

    Mr. Abou-Arab, a husband and father of four sons, maintains his innocence.

    He was at the Magnolia Street building — which at the time consisted of six apartments, a garage, and the Huron Market — on the day of the fire and underwent lengthy questioning by police in the days that followed.

    Toledo police Detective Deborah Hahn testified at an earlier hearing that the inquiry became a homicide investigation and Mr. Abou-Arab the prime suspect after police obtained surveillance video from the corner market.

    That video, which is expected to be shown to the jury, purportedly shows the defendant enter the garage, remain inside for more than a minute, then leave and enter the corner store just before an occupant of the apartment next to the garage notices the fire and calls 911.

    The trial cannot end soon enough for Ali Abdou, owner of the Huron Market, which was not damaged in the fire. Eager to distance himself from the case, Mr. Abdou said last week that he was “just tired of it. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

    He was leasing the property from Mr. Abou-Arab at the time of the fire and last year purchased it from him.

    The trial is expected to attract large numbers of firefighters, family members of the victims, and family members and friends of the defendant.

    Court Administrator Brian Patrick said that because seating inside the courtroom will be reserved, members of the public may watch the trial live at a first-floor conference room at the Lucas County Conference and Learning Center, 711 Adams St.

    Chief Santiago said firefighters will be able to view the proceedings at the Lucas County Emergency Services Building — a site that is not open to the public.

    A comfort dog most recently brought into court for the trial of two men charged with sexually assaulting three children in their care is to be at the site for the firefighters and family of the victims.

    It will be an emotional couple of weeks.

    Mr. Machcinski and Mr. Dickman died performing their sworn duty to protect life and property, the fire department’s investigation stated.

    “The dispatched incident transmission for 528 Magnolia Street concluded with the statement, ‘This is going to be a two-story apartment building, reported people are inside.’ Upon hearing that transmission, Firefighter Stephen Machcinski and Firefighter

    James Dickman donned their fire gear, climbed onto their engine, and responded to the scene to help persons they believed were in danger,” the report states. “The actions of these brave and selfless men epitomize the definition of a firefighter.”

    http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/20...ars-later.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #15
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Man accused in deaths of 2 Ohio firefighters gets 20 years

    TOLEDO, OH (AP) — An Ohio building owner accused of arson that led to the deaths of two Toledo firefighters has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

    A judge declared a mistrial Thursday for 64-year-old Ray Abou-Arab, who had pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder. Abou-Arab then entered what’s known as an Alford plea on involuntary manslaughter and aggravated arson charges.

    That means he doesn’t admit guilt but concedes prosecutors had evidence to convict him. Other counts were dismissed.

    He was then sentenced.

    A judge declared the mistrial after a witness told jurors Abou-Arab failed a polygraph exam, referencing information not typically admissible in court.

    Abou-Arab was accused of setting the January 2014 fire to collect insurance money.

    Abou-Arab’s attorney, Sam Kaplan, declined to comment Thursday.

    http://nbc4i.com/2017/05/11/man-accu...gets-20-years/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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