PITTSBURGH—A death penalty trial has begun for a man accused of having set a house fire that killed a young child and two women in Pittsburgh 4.5 years ago.
Martell Smith, 45, faces three counts of homicide as well as aggravated arson and other charges in the early morning December 2017 blaze in the Homewood neighborhood, which Allegheny County prosecutors say he set after getting into a bar fight with another man.
Police say surveillance images show him buying a gas can and filling it at a gas station, and they say he then drove to the home, doused the three-story brick structure with the gasoline, lit it and drove away. Killed were 21-year-old Shamira Staten, her 4-year-old daughter, Ch’yenne Manning, and 58-year-old Sandra Carter Douglas….