PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Maine’s highest court is turning down an appeal from a Portland landlord who was convicted of a code violation stemming from a fire that killed six people at one of his properties.
Gregory Nisbet was acquitted of six counts of manslaughter at trial following the fall 2014 fire. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court issued a ruling on Thursday that affirmed that judgment.
The code violation Nisbet was convicted of related to safety of the apartment building where the fire broke out. He was sentenced to 90 days imprisonment in 2016.
The high court’s judgment says the fire began on a porch and proceeded up a stairway. It says bedroom windows in the house were “considerably smaller” than required by codes, and not big enough to serve as an escape method.
