Jury finds Columbia arson suspect not guilty

A Boone County jury found a Columbia man accused of arson not guilty Wednesday.

After an eight-day trial and nearly 12 hours of deliberation, the jury decided they could not say without a reasonable doubt that Mehrdad Fotoohighiam paid an employee $500 to set Marcia Green’s home on fire back in 2014.

Green and lead CPD investigator for this case Steven Wilmoth were in the courtroom as the jury announced their verdict.

ABC17 News spoke with one jury member after the trial, who said the decision was made because of holes in the witnesses testimonies, which was the defenses main argument.

Defense attorney, Scott Rosenblum said he was pleased with the outcome of the trial.

“The prosecutor laid out his case with these witnesses, but he never used the word credible, and that was the problem.” Rosenblum said.

Marcia Green, the victim of the fire, said she was “deeply disappointed with the outcome,” and that “there were parts of the trial that could have been handled better.”

Philip Groenweghe, a special prosecutor called in from St. Charles County, refused to make a comment about the outcome of the trial.

The jury began work on a verdict around 1:30p.m. Tuesday and deliberated into Wednesday afternoon, which marked the eighth day of the trial that started last Monday.

Fotoohighiam was charged with first-degree arson, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, but his trial this week is only on the arson charge.

Fotoohighiam was accused of paying an employee $500 in December 2014 to set fire to Green’s home. A jury acquitted the employee, James Hall, in July 2018. Green was awarded more than $2.75 million in a civil case last September for her injuries and damage to her property.

The state presented several witnesses who accused Fotoohighiam of asking them to pay off Hall and trying to cover his tracks.

The prosecuting attorney said in his closing statement the defendant was a “master manipulator,” but “not as clever as he thinks he is.”

Groenweghe also argued that the fact the defendant hid from police for eight hours during is evidence of his guilt.

The defense attacked the credibility of almost every witness during the trial, saying it was a “parade of convicts and drug addicts” during his closing statements Tuesday.

Defense attorney Scott Rosenblum also scrutinized the investigation of the alleged arson by the Columbia Police Department, calling it a “dangerously bad investigation” and “the kind that puts innocent people in jail.”

The jury was selected from a pool of over 100 people from Boone County.