TOLEDO, Ohio — The man who murdered two firefighters by setting an arson at his Toledo apartment complex will stay in prison.
Ray Abou-Arab's request to withdraw his Alford plea is denied.
He's serving a 20-year sentence for the fire that killed Toledo firefighters Jamie Dickman and Stephen Machcinski back in 2014.
Abou-Arab entered Alford pleas during his 2017 trial. Judge Stacy Cook then found him guilty of the charges of two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of aggravated arson.
Abou-Arab used gasoline to ignite a North Toledo apartment building he owned on Magnolia Street, resulting in the firefighters' deaths on Jan. 26, 2014.
In an Alford plea, the defendant doesn't admit guilt, but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to prove that he or she is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Most often, this results in a guilty plea of a lesser crime.
