AKRON, Ohio — A jury in Summit County is recommending life in prison for the Akron man accused of killing nine in house fires on Fultz Street in Akron.
Last week, the jury found Stanley Ford guilty on 26 of the 29 charges against him, including guilty on all counts related to the deaths of the nine people in the Akron house fires. He was found not guilty on Prohibitions Concerning Companion Animals, a Jan. 23, 2017 car fire, and Aggravated Menacing.
As Ford's trial was a capital murder case, the jurors deliberated on whether or not to recommend the death penalty for the Northeast Ohio man.
Ford's first trial was declared a mistrial in late 2020 after numerous delays due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The second trial began in early August.
The deadly arsons left nine people dead, including a family of seven in May of 2017: Dennis Huggins, Angela Boggs, and their five children in Cameron, Alivia, Kylle, Daisia and Jered. A sixth child, who was 18, was not home at the time of the fire. About a year earlier, a previous fire claimed the lives of Lindell Lewis and Gloria Jean Hart. Ford was not arrested until about a week after the second blaze, and he has been in police custody ever since.
