Mother of target in arson dissatisfied with plea

WEST CHESTER » A woman whose family’s apartment was the target of an intentionally set fire told a judge hearing the guilty plea of the man who started the blaze that she objected to the leniency of the sentence proposed in the case.

“This man tried to kill my family,” the woman, Tamyna Paskins told Common Pleas Judge David Bortner on Thursday, during the plea proceeding for Domonique Jordan Ford. “The sentence is not justice. I don’t agree with the plea agreement at all.”

The agreement, which had been negotiated by Deputy District Attorney Thomas Ost-Prisco and defense attorney Michael Skinner of West Chester, called for Ford to spend 11½ to 23 months in Chester County Prison, followed by five years of supervised probation. Bortner eventually accepted the plea and imposed the sentence, but not before hearing a lengthy explanation by Ost-Prisco as to why Ford’s punishment was far below what might have been expected.

Ost-Prisco, the D.A.’s Office’s arson prosecutor, acknowledged that the state sentencing guidelines for Ford called for a sentence on the charge of arson endangering persons of 10 years in state prison. He noted that Ford, 25, of Coatesville, had two prior convictions for sexual assaults in the county, which made him a candidate for a long term in the state system.

But Ost-Prisco said that after reviewing the case, he was convinced that a lesser sentencing offer to Skinner was warranted, not only because of the actual facts of the fire itself but because of problems he foresaw in bringing the case to a jury.

“In the general scheme of things, this was, thankfully, a relatively small fire,” said the veteran prosecutor during the hearing before Bortner. “There was minimal damage, and no one was hurt. It could have been a lot worse, but it wasn’t.”

He said that if the case had gone to trial, there could have been evidentiary issues of the identification of Ford as the person who set the fire. The only one who saw him at the scene was Paskins’ daughter, Myia Thomas, who OstPrisco said had reportedly been in a long-running dispute with Ford’s girlfriend. That issue could have cast doubt on her testimony, he said.

He also said that it appeared that Ford suffered from some mental health issues that the prosecution had to take into account.

“Nobody is thrilled with this plea,” Ost-Prisco told Bortner. “This is one of the most serious charges he (Ford) faced, and while they may not have liked it, all the law enforcement officers involved understand why (the sentence was offered).”

Skinner said that

he agreed with the analysis Ost-Prisco had made of the case. His client was willing to plead guilty to the charges, even though he could have successfully defended himself at trial.”

For his part, Ford, whose mother sat in the rear of Bortner’s courtroom when he pleaded guilty, seemed upset that Paskins had blamed him for trying to hurt her daughter.

“I just want to say that I am the only one who knows the reality of the situation,” he told the judge. “She doesn’t know the reality of what went on.”

According to a criminal complaint filed by West Chester Detective Stan Billie, officers were called to the Hannum Gardens Apartments on Downingtown

Pike around 4:20 p.m. on Aug. 7 for the report of a building fire that had been intentionally set.

The first officer on the scene, Gerald DiNunzio, reported seeing a small cooler on fire on the back porch of one of the units. There was fire damage to rear doors, as well as a porch overhang.

He said that Thomas told him she was in the kitchen cooking at the time when she saw a man she knew as “Dom,” open the rear door. She said she saw him spread a liquid of some kind on the patio, and then lighting it on fire. She called her brother who was upstairs, told him what had happened, and tried to extinguish the fire before calling police.

Thomas acknowledged in her interview with police that she knew that “Dom” was the boyfriend of a woman “she has a history of issues with,” according to the complaint.

All three West Chester fire companies responded to the call. The apartment complex is one of the largest in the borough, and Billie said that Assistant Chief Fire Marshall Elizabeth Schew stated that had the fire not been extinguished when it was, it could have posed a danger to those inside the apartment and their neighbors.

Ford was arrested and charged on Aug. 23 and has been in the county prison in lieu of bail since. He will be eligible for parole in early August.