Leon Newsome retrial: Jury to continue deliberations after returning without verdict

Jurors will continue deliberations Wednesday morning in Leon Newsome's arson-murder trial after they initially returned unable to reach a verdict.

Summit County Judge Tammy O'Brien told the jury Tuesday afternoon to try to reach a decision. After 2½ days of hearing arguments, evidence and testimonies, jurors began deliberating on Monday.

This is the second jury to hear the case after the first panel could not reach a verdict in October.

On the third and final day of the retrial, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed on one thing in their closing arguments — that Newsome lit the fire in a North Hill home that killed two people on Oct. 25, 2022.

Both sides disagree on why Newsome started the blaze. The question of whether or not the 39-year-old Akron man set the fire on purpose or accidentally is up to the jury.

"The question is not who started the fire," Newsome's attorney John Greven said Monday. "Leon started the fire. The question is, 'what are the circumstances behind him starting the fire?'"

Newsome is accused of setting fire to a couch in a three-story Carpenter Street house in North Hill. The fire quickly spread, killing Casey Blanchfield, 31, and Thomas "TJ" Litton, 41, who were asleep on the top floor.

Newsome faces 10 charges. That's two counts of murder, six counts of aggravated arson and two counts of felonious assault. He initially had 16 charges. Four counts of aggravated murder and two counts of murder were dropped.

Retrial started Wednesday

Two witnesses testified on the first day of the retrial Wednesday that they were in the three-story Carpenter Street when the blaze began to engulf the structure.

Frank McCready and his former girlfriend, Lisa Cook, described how Newsome was upset when his girlfriend and Cook, who left for coffee, were gone too long.

Returning home, Newsome went to the second floor where he yelled at Cook before McCready told him to leave, Cook said Wednesday. Newsome went to the ground floor where she heard him arguing with his girlfriend before falling quiet.

Cook and McCready recalled how moments later the girlfriend ran up the stairs and screamed about a fire. Soon after, the two heard a "boom" or "whoosh" from the ground floor.

Competing accounts of what happened

Newsome told investigators roughly one week after the deadly blaze that he accidentally caught the couch on fire when he went to pick up something with a lit cigarette in his hand, according to footage of two interviews used as evidence.

For Greven, and his co-counsel attorney Nathan Ray, the fire was an accident in a house full of junk on an old couch. An accelerant-sniffing canine from the state fire marshal's office did not detect any gas or oil-based accelerants during the investigation.

But prosecutors argued, pulling from earlier testimony, that these trained dogs cannot pick up the scent of alcohol-based accelerants, which could explain the "whoosh" and "boom" sound created when vapors ignite.

As for the arguments that preceded the blaze, Greven said his client was angry because he was concerned for his girlfriend's safety after someone was sexually assaulted nearby.

"We heard (from McCready) that Leon was a peacemaker and mediator," Greven said. "He got along with everyone in the house."

For assistant Summit County prosecutor Ben Carro, there is no evidence that Newsome was a mediator on the day of the fire as two roommates said he verbally threatened them.

The "trail of guilt," he said, began with the argument and threat before McCready and Cook heard the "whoosh" and "boom." There was no evidence that he warned others of the fire or called 911.

Assistant Prosecutor Jennie Shuki said Newsome also lied to investigators during his first interview, in which he said someone else started the fire and he tried to put it out and warn his roommates.

Shuki and Greven agreed that Newsome lied, but they argued he was protecting different people. Shuki said he was protecting himself. Greven argued he was protecting his friends who were using methamphetamine and had warrants at the time.

"Leon Newsome admitted he lied," Shuki told jurors Monday. "He does admit to being angry. He admits he was the only one in the den area when the fire started."

Bryce Buyakie covers courts and public safety for the Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at bbuyakie@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @bryce_buyakie

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jury deliberates in retrial of Leon Newsome over role in deadly fire