A 31-year-old Arlington man was sentenced Friday to 18 to 20 months in state prison for starting a fire in 2015 near a Boston alcove where two homeless men were sleeping.
On Thursday, Sept. 7, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Peter Lauriat found Matthew Cody guilty of two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon but acquitted him of arson and attempted murder, concluding a one-day, jury-waived trial, according to a statement from the DA’s office.
A Boston Globe summary reported Sept. 8 that Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement: “Crimes like this defy explanation. The victims did nothing to provoke it, and they were particularly vulnerable as they slept on the street.”
Following his prison sentence Cody will have three years of probation, which includes a mental health evaluation and drug and alcohol treatment.
During the trial, The Globe reported, prosecutor David McGowan said Cody was leaving his job at a West Street restaurant in Boston about 11 p.m. Oct. 8, 2015, when he passed a building where people were sleeping inside an alcove.
Footage from a security camera showed Cody pick up a book from a recycling bin and light it on fire next to the sleeping men, prosecutors said. Cody then walked away, according to the DA’s office, and watched the flames go out before returning and lighting the book a second time. He then left the area, prosecutors said.
The fire spread to the building’s entry, authorities said, and to the cardboard on which the men were sleeping. Passersby and a man who smelled the smoke in a nearby office put out the fire, the DA’s statement said.
Cody’s coworkers identified him in images from video footage.
Cody’s attorney, Andrew Stockwell-Alpert, told The Globe that his client was “drastically overcharged with crimes that could not be proven.” He called the judge’s sentence reasonable.
The Boston Fire Department estimated the cost of the fire damage at $18,000.
June 28, 2016: Arlington resident charged in fire near homeless men
This news summary was published Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017.
