Second guilty plea in deadly blaze
Castleton man admits role in 2015 fire that killed one, displaced others
TROY >> A Castleton man has admitted to his role in a 2015 fire in Lansingburgh that killed an elderly woman and will testify against another man charged in the crime.
Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove said Ty-
ler W. Smith, 25, pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon in Rensselaer County Court to one felony count each of first-degree manslaughter and second-degree arson. Under terms of the deal, Smith will be sentenced Oct. 27 to 20 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision.
The deal is conditional,
however, Abelove said in a news release, on Smith cooperating with prosecutors in building their case against David Stanley, 23, of East Greenbush. Authorities say Smith, Stanley and Abbey Slaga, 22, also of East Greenbush, set fire to 520 Second Ave., a three-story, brick building, in the early morning hours of May 1, 2015. A first-floor tenant in the building, Grace Halpin, 82, died after suffering a heart attack during
the blaze, and 13 other residents were displaced.
Slaga pleaded guilty to a reckless endangerment charge in September 2015, saying she stayed in the car as Stanley — her boyfriend — and Smith started the fire as revenge against a second-floor tenant.
Stanley, meanwhile, remains charged with first- and second-degree murder, arson, assault, criminal mischief, burglary and 10 counts of
reckless endangerment under an indictment handed down in July 2015 by a Rensselaer County grand jury.
“This guilty plea hopefully brings Ms. Halpin’s family some measure of closure,” Abelove said in the release, “especially with the knowledge that now both Tyler Smith and Abbey Slaga have taken responsibility for their part in this heinous crime, and agreed to cooperate against David Stanley.”