Trial begins in death penalty case against man accused of starting Homewood fire that killed 3

Cecil Douglas Sr. was asleep in his third-floor bedroom on Dec. 20, 2017, when he heard his step-son’s girlfriend call out, “‘Mom, mom, the house in on fire.’”

At first, Douglas told an Allegheny County jury on Monday, he thought maybe Shamira Staten had burned something in the kitchen as she had done days earlier.

But then he opened the door heading to the second floor of their Bennett Street house in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood.

“I was hit by flames, smoke, heat,” Douglas testified. “I woke my wife up. ‘Get up, the house in on fire.’”

As he assessed a way to get out of their bedroom, Douglas was met by flames coming out of the roof of the front porch, so he crawled to another window and opened it.

“I’m screaming for my wife to come on. I’m screaming for a ladder.”

Douglas got on the ledge and held the window open, still screaming for his wife.

“Did she ever come to that window?” asked Deputy District Attorney Brian Catanzarite.

“No, sir.”

His wife, Sandra Carter Douglas, 58, was killed in the fire, as were Staten and Staten’s 4-year-old daughter, Ch’yenne Manning.

Martell Smith, 45, is charged with three counts of criminal homicide and related charges in connection with the 2017 fire in Homewood.

He could face the death penalty if he is convicted.

Smith’s trial began Monday with opening statements before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos.

Investigators said Smith started the fire after having a fight with Carter Douglas’ son, Rico Carter, at a Penn Hills club earlier that night.

After the fight — which left Smith with a bloodied face, torn shirt and broken necklace — Catanzarite told the jury that Smith went to a nearby Sunoco station, bought a gallon can and filled it with gas.

The prosecutor said Smith then went to Rico Carter’s house, walked in the front door, poured gasoline in the living room and set it on fire.

“Rico wasn’t there,” Catanzarite said. “The person he fought wasn’t home.”

Witnesses told police they saw Smith pacing up and down the street, bragging about what he did, Catanzarite said.

After police took Smith in for questioning and collected his clothing, Catanzarite said they found gasoline on his clothes and in his car.

Defense attorney Randall McKinney told the jury during his opening that the gasoline was found on the bottom of his client’s shoe and on the cuff of his shirt sleeve. There was an innocent reason for that, McKinney said.

“Martell Smith went to the gas station for the same reason we all go to the gas station … to put gas into a car,” he said.

McKinney said Smith had borrowed a friend’s car that day because his was low on gas and had been having transmission problems.

Smith, who is expected to testify, filled the gas can to take back to his own car, McKinney said.

The small amount of gas on Smith’s clothing, the defense told the jury, was not consistent with someone in a rage pouring it all over a house to light it on fire.

“There is no motive for Martell Smith to have committed this crime,” McKinney said, noting the fight with Rico Smith lasted just 20 seconds.

He suggested that the fire was started by someone else and police failed to investigate further than his own client. McKinney also noted that there were no signs of forced entry at the house.

“Just because someone accuses you of doing something, that doesn’t make it so,” McKinney said.

Douglas testified Monday afternoon that the family sometimes left the front door unlocked because his stepson often forgot his keys.

As part of Douglas’ testimony, prosecutors played dashcam video from a patrol car on the scene during the fire.

In it, Douglas’ voice can be heard crying out in pain after he jumped from the window to a lower roof on the house. He repeatedly told an officer that he tried to get his wife out of the house but couldn’t. He didn’t know at the time whether Shamira had gotten out.

Douglas broke his left tibia and fibula in the fall. The injuries required surgery and he spent eight days in the hospital.

Douglas will be back on the stand Tuesday for cross-examination.