Judge: 'Your behavior is despicable. You're despicable.'

ALBANY — Edward Leon, the St. Johnsville man prosecutors now say is a suspect in the fire that badly burned Sa'fyre Terry and killed her father and siblings, was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for lying to a grand jury about his whereabouts on the night of the Schenectady blaze.

"I believe that your conduct here is reprehensible. Your behavior is despicable. You're despicable," U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe told Leon before imposing the maximum sentence.

Leon, 43, was found guilty last year of two counts of making false statements to a grand jury on Nov. 22, 2013. He has not been charged with setting the fire.

Leon admitted lying, but nothing more. "The only thing that I actually did was lie before a grand jury. I had nothing to do with anything else ... It's about all I have," he said to the judge.

The May 2, 2013, blaze inside 438 Hulett St. killed David Terry, 32, and his children Layah, 3, and Michael Terry, 2; and Donovan Duell, 11 months. Another of Terry's children, Sa'fyre Terry, who was 5 at the time, suffered extensive burns. In recent months, the girl's case has drawn national attention after a holiday Facebook campaign brought 1.7 million cards and packages. Among those who corresponded with the now 8-year-old girl were President Barack Obama and pop stars Beyonce and Katy Perry.

After Leon asserted his innocence, Sharpe scoffed and said he believed that about as much as he believed anything Leon claimed in his lies to police and the grand jury.

At start of sentencing, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Grant Jaquith told the judge, "Your honor, the defendant's deception was deadly."

The prosecutor said Leon lied to police in St. Johnsville, to Schenectady detectives, to federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents, to the grand jury and then again to federal agents — "all part of the defendant's plan to conceal his plan and avoid suspicion,"

Jaquith noted Leon admitted he was "50 to 60 feet away from the fire," according to his own version of events and left without calling authorities "all because he did not want anyone to suspect him.

"If the defendant did anything besides leave a father and young children to die, perhaps they could have gotten out, too," he said, calling Leon's actions "the most severe perjury possible."

Leon's attorney David Gruenberg had asked for a 5-year sentence, saying his client's action caused no significant delay in the investigation.

"The judge obviously felt strongly about the case and felt very strongly about Mr. Leon and sentenced him to the maximum time he could sentence him to." Gruenberg said afterward.

In the three years since the fire, federal prosecutors have been reluctant to call Leon a suspect. Another man was initially charged with setting the fire but the charges were dropped.

But in a memorandum asking the judge to impose the maximum sentence, the U.S. Attorney's office conceded a critical detail in the botched investigation: They now suspect Leon started it.

In the recent court filings, the Justice Department also acknowledged their suspicion that Leon was behind another fire just six weeks before the Schenectady fire. In that case, he boasted of being the hero who rescued his ex-girlfriend and children from a burning residence, but he was seen carrying a gas can into the home the day before the blaze.

The memo said there was "significant evidence of the defendant's involvement with another arson," a reference the March 17, 2013, blaze.

"There is significant evidence of the defendant's involvement with the arson homicide at 438 Hulett St. in Schenectady on May 2, 2013," wrote first assistant U.S. Attorney Grant Jaquith.

Jaquith's memo to Sharpe contained details of Leon's criminal record, including two convictions for "acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17"; two disorderly conduct convictions that resolved child endangerment charges; a harassment conviction in 2003; and a conviction in 2005 for contempt of court. The details of the charges were not immediately available.

Prosecutors said Leon's ex-girlfriend, Brianne Frolke, was the source of Leon's rage because she planned to marry Terry and often visited him at his Schenectady residence.

Leon does not face charges in either fire.

Leon, a mechanic, told the Times Union in March 2014 that he was near the scene of the blaze around the time the Schenectady fire began.

Leon told the Times Union he did not set the fire. He acknowledges driving to Terry's residence a couple hours before dawn on the morning of the blaze, because, he said, he wanted to confront Terry.

"I figured I'd go down on my way to work; most people aren't up at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning," Leon said. "I'd go find a house number to maybe knock on a door."

Police said the fire began around 4 a.m. and that it was started with gasoline.

"I was in Schenectady ... to try to meet this guy and confront him face to face," Leon said. "Now they're at the point of trying to pin something on somebody. ... I haven't hid for one minute from it and I ain't going to now. I got five kids and four grandkids to take care of; they're what it's about to me."

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