Witnesses testify that defendant bragged about setting fatal Homewood fire minutes after it began

In the minutes and hours after a home on Bennett Street in Homewood burned, the man accused of setting the fire walked back and forth along neighboring streets, his image captured repeatedly.

During that time, witnesses testified Friday, Martell Smith bragged about what he’d done.

“The defendant was at the corner, pacing back and forth saying the words, ‘See what happens when you (mess) with me,’” said Erica Hall. “He said it multiple times.”

Smith, 45, is charged with three counts of criminal homicide, arson and related charges stemming from the Dec. 20, 2017, fire that killed Shamira Staten, 21, her daughter Ch’yenne Manning, 4, and Sandra Carter Douglas, 58.

The blaze was reported around 2:15 a.m., less than an hour after Smith had an altercation with Rico Carter, who also lived at the house, at a Penn Hills bar. Prosecutors believe Smith set the fire to retaliate against Carter, who punched him several times at the bar.

Smith’s trial began on Monday before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos. It is expected to last much of next week. If convicted of first-degree murder, prosecutors will ask the jury to impose the death penalty.

Hall, who lives in Homewood, said she got repeated phone calls that morning about the fire and drove to the scene around 3 a.m. She told the jury that she watched from a nearby parking lot for two hours or so.

When Hall heard Smith’s comments, she said she became irate.

“I was yelling my own obscenities,” she said.

Hall testified that she wanted to approach Smith — who she said she knew from the neighborhood and didn’t like — but the crowd held her back.

That night at the scene, Hall said, she did not tell the police what she heard.

“I wasn’t approached by anyone,” she said.

However, Hall said she went back to the area the next day.

“At that point, the neighborhood was talking, and I wanted to be part of the talk,” she said.

While she stood nearby smoking marijuana, Hall said police officers arrived. They asked her her name, found out she had an outstanding warrant for forgery and searched her. They found crack cocaine.

The police then took Hall back to headquarters for questioning. It was then, she said, that she identified Smith in a photo array. On the photo she signed, Hall wrote, “Heard this gentleman say, ‘yup, yup, I did it. Should not have (messed) with me.’”

On cross-examination, Hall admitted that she was never charged with drug possession that day. Defense attorney Randall McKinney told the jury during his opening statement that getting out of those charges could have been a motive for Hall to talk to police about his client.

McKinney also noted that, even though Hall said she’d received multiple phone calls the night of the fire, police found she had no incoming calls from 2 to 7 a.m. that day.

Jerry Mahone also was on the scene the night of the fire.

He testified that he tried to run into the house to save the people inside but was turned away by public safety officials.

“They told me I was too late,” he said.

As he stood nearby watching, Mahone said there were several people around.

“There was a lot of talking going on who did it,” he said. “Somebody said something like, ‘Burn, baby, burn.’

“‘Let it burn. Burn, baby, burn.’

“It disgusted me,” Mahone said. “There’s kids in there. How could you say something like that.”

Mahone said the man who made those comments was wearing a dark coat and Steelers winter hat — the same clothes video surveillance showed Smith wearing at the bar that night and in video taken from a nearby Sunoco gas station where prosecutors said he bought a gallon can and $2.89 worth of gasoline.

The next day, Mahone also identified Smith in a photo array.

On cross-examination, Mahone said Smith seemed intoxicated at the scene, and that he was acting “belligerent” and “out of (his) mind.”

During his police interview, Mahone told detectives that when Rico Carter arrived at the scene, he punched Smith in the face. It was after that when Smith said, “‘Burn, baby, burn.’”

Also testifying Friday was a fire investigator hired initially by Erie Insurance and then retained by the district attorney’s office in the case.

John Henry told the jury that the fire began in the living room, and that in the area where a sofa had been, he found three spots where an accelerant was used.

“The unmistakable odor of gasoline became overwhelming,” he said. “This was not a small amount of gasoline.”

Henry said that the samples he collected were “saturated.”

All that remained of the couch were springs, he said.

“Everything in that room was obliterated.”