Stanley Ford, 62, of Akron, Ohio, is accused of nine arson deaths. Ford is accused of more murders than anyone in Summit County history, including the deaths of seven family members killed in a house fire in May of 2017.
In June 2020, a judge declared a mistrial after jurors were excused over concerns of COVID-19. Stanley now faces a new trial, despite having maintained his innocence for several years. If convicted, Ford could face the death penalty.
Earlier this week, the lead case detective testified on the 2016 crimes, but her testimony was riddled with confusing behaviors like whistling and argumentative answers. In a recent Court TV interview, Denver defense attorney Jeff Wolf discussed the defense’s strategy against this key witness.
“I think the defense is doing an excellent job…” explained Wolf. “He’s laying out every time she walked away from a lead, and he’s showing a lack of familiarity with her own case. Obviously she’s retired, obviously it’s been a number of years, but she should have been ready for this…”
“This defense attorney is doing an excellent job with the law of escalating punishment,” Wolf continued, “where he was super polite at first and gave her an opportunity to review her report…and then when she was not able to find the things that she could seemingly be making up on the stand to explain why she didn’t follow up, he says: well let me help you out. It’s not in there! The Jury is now with him…and the jury doesn’t trust this witness anymore.”
Watch the full video for extended commentary from Jeff Wolf or for more details about the case.
