Newark, N.J. – Two former roommates who set a dormitory fire that killed three students at Seton Hall University were sentenced to five years in prison Friday after listening to the victims’ relatives reject their apologies and call them murderers and cowards.
Joseph LePore and Sean Ryan, both 26, pleaded guilty in November to arson for setting fire to a paper banner in a lounge Jan. 19, 2000. The flames spread to a couch, filling the dorm with smoke.
At the sentencing, family members of the three who died and another who was seriously burned gave wrenching statements before a courtroom with more than 100 people.
Tracy Caltabilota, whose brother died, told the men: “Your complete lack of remorse has shown you to be cowards as well as murderers.”
Many ridiculed their claim when they pleaded guilty that the fire was “a prank that got out of hand.”
Freshmen Frank Caltabilota, John Giunta and Aaron Karol, all 18, were overcome by smoke and died. Dozens of others were injured. The fire led New Jersey to enact the nation’s first law requiring sprinklers in dorms at colleges and boarding schools.
The two young men were originally charged with murder. On the eve of their trial, they struck a plea bargain that spared them the minimum 30-year terms if they had been convicted as charged. They will be eligible for parole in 16 months.
