FireLink

Ohio Man on Trial for Arson That Killed 6

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Some jurors wept today as they listened to a young woman frantically tell 911 operators that many of her family members were trapped in a house fire that eventually killed six people.

The tape was played during the first day of a trial in Mahoning County Court for a Youngstown man accused of setting the January blaze to get even for a stolen cell phone.

Mahoning Prosecutor Paul Gains, in his opening statement, called defendant Michael Davis, 18, a dangerous man who was angry that someone in the house stole his cell phone a few days before the Jan. 23 fire.

He told the jury that, at one point, Mr. Davis confessed, then said it was someone else, than denied any knowledge of the arson.

Defense attorney James Gentile told the jury that prosecutors were wrong. He said it was a terrible tragedy, but, “This investigation produced the wrong person.”

But the most dramatic moment came as Retia Crawford, 19, took the stand to testify about the night. Her frantic call to 911, made from a neighbor’s house, was played, bringing tears to the eyes of jurors and Ms. Crawford herself.

She lost her mother, her sister, and her sister’s four children in the fire.

“I don’t want them to die. My mom is in the house. NO. . . . My house is on fire, oh my God, four children are inside. My sister and my mom are upstairs,” Ms. Crawford says on the tape.

Also testifying was Ricky Williams, a friend of the Crawford family who escaped the fire. He admitted he stole Mr. Davis’ phone days before the fire. He said Mr. Davis, who lived near the Crawfords, was initially suspicious but didn’t confront him in the days before the fire.

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