Man accused of setting fire at witnesses’ home sentenced
PITTSBURGH – A man accused of setting fire to a Pittsburgh home two years ago in an attempt to kill witnesses slated to testify at his cousin’s homicide trial has been sentenced to 66½ to 133 years in prison.
Twenty-five-year-old Charles Nevels III apologized in Allegheny County Court Friday before he was sentenced in the June 2015 fire in Troy Hill, which forced three people to jump from a second-floor window. One broke both ankles.
Jurors in May convicted Nevels of three counts of attempted homicide as well as arson and witness intimidation.
Nevels’ cousin Theodore Smedley was sentenced Tuesday to five to 10 years on a voluntary manslaughter plea in a 2014 double homicide. He is already serving 20 to 40 years on a third-degree murder conviction in a 2015 slaying.