CLEVELAND (AP) — A former drug dealer was found guilty onFriday at his retrial in the 2005 arson
deaths of a woman and eightchildren at a birthday sleepover — the city’s deadliest house fire.AU.S. District
Court jury handed down the verdict in the case against30-year-old Antun Lewis in the fire in an impoverished
Clevelandneighborhood. Lewis also was convicted in the first trial.Defense attorneys said Friday they
believe the enormous tragedy overshadowed the evidence in the case."Wetruly believe that the charges in
this case were so horrific, with thedeaths of the children and the mother, that the community wanted to
holdsomeone responsible, in spite of what the evidence showed," attorneyAngelo Lonardo said, according
to The Plain Dealer.The prosecution didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment after the
verdict.JudgeSolomon Oliver, who presided at both trials, ordered the second trial,agreeing with the defense
that the government had used unreliablejailhouse informants.The defense said the informants’ testimonywas
prompted by money paid by the government — one man got more than$20,000 over several years — or the prospect
of leniency in their owncriminal cases.The fire killed 33-year-old Medeia Carter, four ofher children and
four other youngsters attending a birthday sleepoverparty on May 21, 2005.The children were celebrating
MosesWilliams Jr.’s 14th birthday. More than 4,000 people attended theirfunerals at Cleveland’s convention
center.Authorities say Lewis, upset over a drug debt, doused the three-story building’s first floor with
gasoline.Lewis,a convicted drug dealer who knew some of the victims, denied wrongdoingand said he was home
several blocks away when the fire started beforedawn.Lewis was charged in federal court because the
government subsidized the lease on the house where the fire occurred.Hewas deemed ineligible for the death
penalty because of a mentaldisability. Evidence presented by the defense showed that he has an IQof about 70
or less, meaning he falls within the range of mild mentaldisability.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All
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