Judge Won't Dismiss Charges in MA LODD Case

WORCESTER, MA—A judge has denied a defense motion to dismiss charges lodged against a West Boylston man in connection with a 2018 fire that claimed the life of Worcester Firefighter Christopher Roy.

Momoh Kamara, 22, is awaiting trial in Worcester Superior Court on second-degree murder, arson and burglary charges related to a Dec. 9, 2018, fire in a three-decker at 5-7 Lowell St., where Kamara once lived. Roy, 36, died of smoke inhalation after he was trapped on the second floor of the building during efforts to extinguish the blaze.

In a five-page ruling issued Feb. 6, Judge Daniel M. Wrenn denied a motion filed by Kamara's lawyer, Blake J. Rubin, seeking the dismissal of the charges.

Rubin alleged in his motion that the evidence presented to the grand jury that secretly indicted Kamara on March 15, 2019, was insufficient, as a matter of law, to support the charges.

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While prosecutors allege that Kamara intentionally set the early-morning fire in the basement of the occupied apartment building using gasoline, Rubin argued that there was no evidence that his client entered the basement of the building, that he possessed gasoline or that he started the blaze.

In addition, Rubin asserted that there was insufficient evidence to support the second-degree murder charge because the evidence, even when taken in a light most favorable to the prosecution, did not support a finding that Kamara's alleged conduct created a "plain and strong likelihood" that death would result.

Prosecutors disputed both claims and asked Wrenn to deny the motion.

In his ruling, which followed a review of the grand jury minutes and relevant exhibits, Wrenn said the prosecution had produced sufficient evidence before the grand jurors to meet each and every element of the charges against Kamara.

The judge said the direct and circumstantial evidence put before the grand jury demonstrated that the defendant took an Uber to a location near Clark University sometime after 2 a.m. on Dec. 9, 2018, that he had a backpack in his possession and that he took a "circuitous walking route" to the entrance to Lowell Street.

"At the time, he was heading in a direction towards 5-7 Lowell Street and the video evidence established that he never exits the other end of Lowell Street. At some point shortly after the fire is reported, the defendant is seen coming back out of Lowell Street onto the Main Street area of Worcester, and again takes a circuitous route back to a location near Clark University where he secures a Lyft ride in order to take him to his mother's house in West Boylston," Wrenn wrote.

The judge said the prosecution also produced evidence before the grand jury that Kamara had an ongoing dispute with a friend and tenant at 5-7 Lowell St., "which was contentious and, at times, violent.

"This included a physical altercation with the tenant and the defendant damaging the tenant's car by breaking the glass in the car and puncturing tires," Wrenn said in his ruling. Kamara is also facing a charge of maliciously damaging a motor vehicle.

The judge said there was also evidence that in the days and weeks leading up to the fire, Kamara was shown to have had "significant personality/behavior changes" that led to two separate psychiatric admissions to a local hospital.

Because Kamara once lived in the building, he was "intimately familiar" with the individuals who lived there, adults and children alike, according to the judge.

"The totality of the evidence presented establishes sufficient probable cause to place the defendant at the property at the time of the fire, and also through circumstantial evidence would allow for the conclusion that the defendant set the fire in the basement and then exited the property thereafter," Wrenn wrote.

As a former tenant of the building, Kamara would have known that the apartments were occupied on three floors and, given the hour of the day, he would have known that it was unlikely any of the occupants would have been aware of the fire in the basement, Wrenn found.

Under the circumstances known to the defendant, a reasonably prudent person would have recognized that his alleged conduct would result in a plain and strong likelihood of death," the judge said.

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