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OGDEN -- An Ogden family told a judge Tuesday about life after Jason Scott Murray intentionally set their house on fire.
Sherrie Heath said, "I just basically let him know how it impacted our lives. It's changed our lives forever."
Murray, 21, lit the home on fire last October while two people were sleeping inside. Tuesday he was sentenced for that crime and will serve a maximum of 30 year in prison for it.
The question in court was whether Murray would serve his sentence for the two counts of aggravated arson consecutively or concurrently. The Heath family pleaded with the judge to impose a consecutive sentence, saying Murray knew what he was doing and that they lost everything because of his actions.
Sherrie Heath said, "It's just something that's unfortunate, and it's sad that so many people's lives were affected, but I just don't know how I really feel."
The judge listened to the Heaths and sentenced Murray to two 1 to 15 year sentences for the two counts of aggravated arson that destroyed their home. On Oct. 6, 2008, Murray set fire to the house after making repeated attempts to contact their 17-year-old granddaughter, whom he met on a social networking site.
Along with the aggravated arson, Murray also made threats to the family, even threatening to kill the granddaughter, who at one point ran away with him to Canada. He also impersonated a police officer in an attempt to trick the Heaths into giving up their granddaughter's location on another occasion.
Because of these things, the judge said Murray understood what he was doing and that he calculated the fire he set to the home. Murray was also ordered to pay restitution for the damage to the home, which comes to about $275,000.
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Story compiled with contributions from Shara Park. and Andrew Adams.
