His thumbs-up gesture outside of court gave the revolting impression that Ray Abou-Arab got away with something when his trial for arson was declared a mistrial and a plea deal followed.
He didn’t.
The 64-year-old Oregon man is going away for 20 years. If he is ever released from prison, he will likely be in his 80s.
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The mistrial was the result of a Toledo police detective’s slip of the tongue. While testifying, he noted that Abou-Arab had failed a polygraph test, which is an inadmissible piece of information that the jury must not consider. This forced Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Stacy Cook to dismiss the jury and declare a mistrial.
Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates discussed the options with her staff and with the victims’ families before agreeing to a plea deal.
This admittedly imperfect resolution spared his victims’ families, their firefighting brethren, and a grieving community a second trial.
Judge Cook choked back tears as she sentenced Abou-Arab to 20 years in prison after he entered an Alford plea — not admitting guilt, but acknowledging the state had enough evidence to convict him — to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of aggravated arson.
Tears from a judge are unusual. Judge Cook also remarked on the defendant’s lack of remorse during the nine days of testimony about the deaths of Toledo firefighters Stephen Machcinski and James Dickman in Abou-Arab’s Magnolia Street apartment building. She said Abou-Arab lacked humanity.
Just getting to trial was excruciating. Nearly three years of rollercoaster legal disputes over the existence of alternate reports on the case, whether to pursue the death penalty, whether fire department procedures played any role in the deaths, took an emotional toll.
Once the trial finally began, each day was taxing on all involved — except, apparently Abou-Arab.
Mr. Machcinski’s brother acknowledged afterward that the end of the trial was less than optimal, but that putting all the parties through a second trial was too terrible to contemplate.
Justice in this lifetime is almost always inadequate and incomplete. Justice in this case surely is, and it will not soon end the tears of families, fellow firefighters, a jury, and a judge.
But there will not be much comfort for Abou-Arab. As Toledo Fire Chief Luis Santiago rightly and eloquently said: “He’s going to have a day where he’ll be judged again, and I’m not sure he’s going to fare as well.”
Meanwhile, Abou-Arab, already an old man, faces the 20 hard years ahead. In a perfect world, it would be 40, but now the long, slow healing can begin for Toledo’s safety forces and for the Machcinski and Dickman families.
First Published May 14, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
