By Grand Rapids Anonymous
Saturday, June 18, 2022 at 11:41:00 A.M. EDT
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A man has been found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in a 2020 fire that killed his wife and three children.
[N.S.: True crime: Four counts of premeditated Murder One.]
It took jurors about an hour and a half of deliberations Friday to convict Robert Scales.
Scales showed no emotion as the verdict was read.
In the gallery, Natoya Aimery, the mother of two of the children, wept.
“It means the world to me that finally there’s justice for my babies and the innocent stepmother and their stepbrother,” Aimery said. “These innocent four lives that were taken. Justice has finally been served for them and everyone knows now.”
[N.S.: The hell, it has.]
The fire broke out shortly after midnight on Feb. 5, 2020, on Dawes Avenue SE, in the area of 28th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue in Grand Rapids. Wanedia Scales, 35, and her son Xavier Woldeab, 15, and Scales and Aimery’s sons Robert Scales, Jr., 14, and Elijah Scales, 10, were killed. All four died of smoke inhalation, the Kent County medical examiner testified Wednesday.
Robert Scales was at work when the fire happened.
He came under suspicion after court records revealed his wife had filed for a personal protection order against him, claiming he threatened to burn down their home and kill her and the boys. But prosecutors said they didn’t have evidence to prove Scales intended to hurt anyone. [N.S.: That’s a bald-faced lie.] Instead, he was charged with involuntary manslaughter. The PPO was not introduced as evidence at trial.
GRA: Because it would have led to a murder conviction.
In closing arguments, the prosecutor said it came down to a fire pit he had used to illegally burn junk from his on-the-side junk hauling business. Authorities say the fire jumped from that pit, 5 feet, 9 inches from the home, to the building.
GRA: He just thought he could get away with a time released fire.Not on this occasion.
--GRA
" But prosecutors said they didn’t have evidence to prove Scales intended to hurt anyone. "
ReplyDeleteThe only instance of where you can use lethal force to protect property is shooting an arsonist. You cannot be sure if the building or dwelling being torched has people inside or not who are unable to exit safely.