In a rage, Richard Ellison intentionally set the fire that killed 84-year-old Robert McMillan sixteen years ago, prosecutors say.
His defense attorneys will argue that police botched the investigation and missed evidence suggesting the elderly man’s caretaker could have accidentally sparked the blaze instead.
Ellison, 48, is facing first and second-degree murder charges that accuse him of starting the fire that led to McMillan’s death in December 2005. He was arrested in 2018 after the case went unsolved for years. The weeks-long jury trial for the case, which was originally delayed because of the pandemic, began Wednesday.
In their opening statements in Merrimack Superior Court, both sides presented conflicting arguments about what led to the fatal fire at McMillan’s duplex at 282-284 N. State St. Jurors saw the area where the duplex used to sit across from New Hampshire State Prison before hearing evidence.
“The defendant set fire to Robert McMillan’s home, knowing that he was inside, knowing that he was bedridden and helpless and knowing that his caretaker, the only other person who could have helped him, Stephen Carter, was not home,” Assistant Attorney General Rachel Harrington said. “He left him alone in this room to die from his injuries in a gasoline-fueled fire and he did all of this because of his grudge against Stephen Carter.”
Defense attorney Caroline Smith argued that Ellison did not set the fire. Smith said police ignored protocol while investigating the fire and in doing so overlooked evidence that could have indicated an accidental conflagration, potentially helped along by Carter’s carelessness.
“In this case, because of what appeared to be obvious, the police got sloppy and jumped to conclusions, and clues were lost and overlooked and misunderstood,” she said.
McMillan, who lived on one side of the duplex, was bedridden and depended on help to move around. His caretaker Stephen Carter, who was not home at the time of the fire, lived on the other side. After being pulled from the house and airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital, McMillan died from injuries sustained in the fire.
Ellison and his then-girlfriend Robin Theriault had briefly stayed in the basement on Carter’s side of the duplex in the summer of 2005 before Carter kicked them out, making them homeless. Prosecutors say that that’s why Ellison decided to get back at Carter by setting the fire.
Prosecutors say Ellison stole roofing materials and McMillan’s cell phone, poured gasoline on Carter’s side of the duplex and then left, knowing McMillan was inside. Evidence includes Theriault’s statements to police that Ellison confessed to her that he set the fire, what Ellison himself said to police, and physical evidence, including a cell phone found along Loudon Road weeks after the fire.
In addition to challenging the fire investigation, Smith told jurors to consider Carter’s behavior the night of the fire. A gasoline-sniffing dog picked up the scent of accelerant on Carter’s shoes when he was questioned by police, and he said he had picked up gas to fill his snowblower’s tank.
Smith will also seek to cast doubt on Theriault’s credibility as a witness, noting she told police that Ellison had confessed to her that he had set the fire while she was being investigated by police for participating in an armed robbery with Ellison.
In addition to witness testimony from police and correctional officers on patrol that night at the prison, jurors will hear about a second alleged Ellison confession made to Matthew York as well as physical evidence from the fire. Expert witnesses Grant Fredericks and Larry Compton will testify about videos taken from prison cameras and from a nearby gas station.