HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — A Hagerstown man is beginning an eight-year prison sentence for burning up his brother’s home in a dispute over the use of their late mother’s bedroom.
The Herald-Mail (http://bit.ly/1ou0usQ ) reports that 58-year-old Donathan Cooper was sentenced Monday after entering an Alford plea to first-degree arson. An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgment that the state has enough evidence to convict.
Prosecutors say Cooper had moved into a home formerly occupied by his mother and his brother. After the mother died, the brother moved some exercise equipment into her bedroom.
Defense attorney Carl Creeden says Cooper didn’t want the bedroom converted into an exercise room.
Prosecutors say Cooper apparently set fire to a mattress in the bedroom and then to a living room couch in December.
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Information from: The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown, Md., http://www.herald-mail.com
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