By Jake Bleiberg, Bangor Daily News
PORTLAND, Maine — The sentencing of a Portland landlord who stood trial in a criminal case arising from Maine’s deadliest house fire is decades was postponed Tuesday because of confusion over who could speak at the hearing.
Gregory Nisbet, 51, was charged with six counts of manslaughter and several misdemeanors following a 2014 fire at his property on 20-24 Noyes St. that killed six adults. In October, the judge hearing the case acquitted Nisbet on all counts except one fire code violation tied to the size of the windows on the building’s third floor, where three people died.
Several family members of those killed on the third floor didn’t attend because they mistakenly believed they would not be able to speak at the sentencing, according to Cumberland County Superior Court Justice Thomas Warren. Nisbet will sentenced Thursday, when family members of the deceased can give victim impact statements.
“I think it’s fair to allow people who want to be heard to be heard,” Warren said. “And I don’t think it’s fair to deprive them of that because of a misunderstanding.”
The people killed in the fire were David Bragdon Jr., 27, Ashley Thomas, 29, and Nicole Finlay, 26, who lived at 20 Noyes St., and visitors Steven Summers, 29, of Rockland, Maelisha Jackson, 23, of Topsham and Chris Conlee, 25, of Portland.
Nisbet could face as much as six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine for the misdemeanor conviction.
This story appears through a partnership with the Bangor Daily News.