Staff file photo / Ed Runyan This is the home on Oak Hill Avenue in Youngstown in the weeks after an arsonist destroyed it early Nov. 23, forcing a family of five to find another place to live. Four members of the family were home at the time of the fire. All escaped.

YOUNGSTOWN — Keith Logan Sr. admits he does not know a lot about the judicial system and was not a direct victim of the three occupied residential arson fires Will Jones, 60, set in Youngstown last Nov. 22 and 23.

But with his son, Keith Logan Jr. and his wife traveling to Africa last week, he decided to stand in for his son at a hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, where Jones pleaded guilty to 14 counts of aggravated arson and got 10 to 15 years in prison.

Logan Sr. spoke at the hearing on behalf of his son and his son’s family, who were the victims of a fire Jones set at about 4:17 a.m. Nov. 23 at the Logan home on Oak Hill Avenue on the South Side, a short distance south of downtown.

The fire destroyed the home. It has since been razed, leaving a solitary wood deck on the front part of the property.

Logan Jr. told The Vindicator in December that if not for his 7-year-old daughter being awake at 4 a.m. that Sunday morning playing a game and waking him up, they all might have died.

The family lost lots of memorabilia and other important items, such as a computer and other equipment Logan Jr. used in his music studio and in video production.

A photo of the front of the home shows the devastating damage it sustained. But Logan Jr. focused on he and his family making it out of the house alive.

Logan Sr. said he was not aware when he went to the courthouse that day that a plea agreement and sentence recommendation had been reached earlier for Judge R. Scott Krichbaum to consider that day, though he learned later that his son and a victim of another of Jones’ arsons knew the details of the plea.

Logan Sr. said he felt like the wishes of the victims had not been taken much into consideration, and the sentence of 10 to 15 years was not enough for the crimes Jones committed.

Logan Sr. expressed to Krichbaum at the hearing his dissatisfaction with the proposed prison sentence, he said. The 14 counts of aggravated arson were for each person who was home at the three homes lit on fire. Each conviction carried the possibility of a long prison sentence.

Logan Sr. said that in his statement to Krichbaum he said it was “obvious” that Jones should get more than 10 to 15 years in prison because of Jones’ history of setting arson fires.

“I’m saying it’s obvious. Somebody like that doesn’t need to be in society. His record speaks for itself,” Logan Sr. told the Vindicator by phone Wednesday.

Logan Sr. said that during his remarks to Krichbaum, he gave a comparison between the plea agreement reached in the Jones case to the plea and sentencing last October for Cody Balmer for setting a fire to the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Balmer got 25 to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of attempted murder of Shapiro, terrorism and 22 counts of aggravated arson, burglary and other charges, according to the Associated Press. The 22 counts reflected the number of people in the Shapiro home at the time of the fire, including guests and state troopers.

No one was injured in the Pennsylvania fire. One person suffered a minor injury in Jones’ three residential arson fires — a person living in the same group home where Jones was living on Willis Avenue Nov. 22.

Logan Sr. said Krichbaum explained that he has no control over what another judge does in his courtroom, and Jones’ crimes did not warrant the type of sentence that was given in the Pennsylvania case.

Logan Sr. said he heard it said at the Jones hearing that no lives were lost in the Youngstown fires. Logan Sr. said he told Krichbaum, “I thank God no physical lives were lost,” but lives were destroyed.

“My granddaughter had a cat in there that she was attached to that perished. She’s a 7-year-old kid. This is her pet. This is her life. This is all their lives. This is everything they own, destroyed.”

He added, “So no physical life was lost, but mentally, psychologically and emotionally, their lives were ruined,” adding, “life as they knew it came to an end, from their house, their favorite place, everything. Their whole life was shattered.”

Logan said he told Krichbaum he would only be happy if Jones could never go free to do this type of thing again. “I said he’s a threat to society. His record proves that. I asked what are you all waiting on — him to kill somebody, for somebody to perish in a fire before they decide?”

Logan Sr. said a remark was made at the hearing that Jones will be too old to do anything when he gets out of prison in 10 years. “The man will be 70. He could still walk. He could strike a match,” Logan Sr. said.

Logan said he learned that Jones indicated that he “heard voices,” which led to Jones being evaluated for competency to stand trial. After being evaluated, he was found competent.

“We all hear voices,” Logan said. “There are voices. There’s a good voice, and there’s a bad one. There’s the voice of God. There’s the voice of Satan, and he is obviously listening to the voice of Satan.”

ASSISTANT PROSECUTOR

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor John Juhasz handled the later stages of the prosecution of Jones. When Juhasz was asked about Logan Sr’s remarks about how well informed the victims were of the plea, he said he wrote up a summary of the plea offer after it was reached May 12, and a victim witness advocate for the prosecutor’s office conveyed that information to all of the victims in the Jones case.

Juhasz said that because Logan Jr. was not going to make it to the plea and sentencing, Logan Sr. called the prosecutor’s office and got permission to speak on his son’s behalf.

Juhasz said a victim from another of Jones’ arsons spoke at the hearing also, but none of the victims from the group-home fire attended. Some victims sent messages to the prosecutor’s office, Juhasz noted.

When asked about Logan Sr’s thoughts on Jones’ 10-to-15-year sentence, Juhasz said Krichbaum talked at the hearing about the factors lawyers take into account in a plea agreement, such as the cost of the case, the number of witnesses, strength of the case and age of the defendant.

Juhasz said Krichbaum asked what sentence Logan Sr. and the woman from the other arson would like, and both said they wanted Jones to never get out of prison. But Krichbaum said there is no life prison sentence for arson.

Juhasz said one benefit of an agreed-upon sentence like the one Jones got is it takes away his appeals. “There’s closure for the victims, the guy’s out of society for 10 years. He’s 60 years old. He does have prior arsons. I’m hoping by the time he’s 70 he’s done committing arson,” Juhasz said.

When Juhasz was asked if the evidence against Jones was strong, Juhasz said it was strong in some instances and “others were not as strong.”

When asked whether Jones’ mental health was a consideration in the plea negotiations, Juhasz said, “There were mental health issues,” noting that Jones gave a statement to the Youngstown Police Department in which he “basically says ‘I don’t know why I do this.’ And he was crying and stuff like that. So there is definitely a mental health component there.”