South Bound Brook man loses appeal in South Brunswick house set on fire over a woman

A South Bound Brook man has lost an appeal of his conviction and 11-year prison sentence for his actions leading to a fire that destroyed a South Brunswick home in a year-long dispute with another man over a woman.

Terrence Strothers, 32, was found guilty after a 15-day trial in June 2019 in Superior Court in Middlesex County on arson, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, weapons and conspiracy charges in the September 2014 fire that destroyed a Greenview Road home in the Kendall Park section of the township.

Besides the prison sentence, Strothers also was ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution to the family.

Strothers is not eligible for parole until January 2025.

A co-conspirator, Gennaro Toscano, 37, of Green Brook, was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the arson. He was released from prison in April.

In the continuing dispute over the woman, Strothers fired a flare at the victim's car on the afternoon of Sept. 29, 2014, and then recruited friends to confront the victim later that day, court papers say.

Strothers maintained they only wanted to fight the victim and did not want to damage his home. The only weapons they had, court papers say, were a baseball bat and a two-by-four in case they were outnumbered in a fight, court papers say.

Two of the friends fired the flare guns at the house, one testifying that he fired the flare gun "on his own accord to make things more exciting," court papers say.

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The two occupants of the house escaped without injury, but the two-story home was destroyed in the blaze, which took several hours for roughly 60 firefighters to contain.

The appellate court rejected Strothers' arguments that Superior Court Judge Joseph Paone should have granted a motion to dismiss all the charges.

Strothers argued that the prosecution had failed to present evidence that he had agreed with anyone to intentionally set fire or damage the home

He asserted the use of the flare guns was a "spur of the moment" decision, court papers say.

But Paone denied that motion, saying "there's evidence of all the elements here with regard to all of the crimes."

The appellate court noted that Strothers had sent texts and phone messages threatening the victim with physical violence. "The jury could reasonably infer the house was a target of (Strothers') animosity" against the victim, the court wrote.

Strothers also objected to Paone allowing the testimony of the prosecution's expert fire witness who said the fire was "intentionally set" and "not accidental." Strothers said the testimony "infringed" on the jury's fact-finding role whether the fire was intentional.

But the appellate panel rejected that argument, saying the expert's testimony did not center on who shot the flare guns "since the cause was never in question."

Strothers also argued that Paone should not have dismissed a juror during deliberations because the juror was due to go on vacation. But the appellate court found that the jury had only deliberated 21 minutes, leaving only one day for deliberations before the juror was due to leave on vacation. The judge decided it was not practical to delay deliberations until the juror returned from vacation and that it placed pressure to reach a verdict before the juror went on vacation.

The appellate court decided that Paone followed court rules and did not violate Strothers' due process rights by denying him a fair trial.

The appellate panel also denied Strothers' argument that Paone erred in giving the jury improper instructions.

The appellate panel also denied Strothers' argument that the prison sentence and the $50,000 restitution was excessive.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Somerset County man loses appeal in South Brunswick arson