Times Union
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Jennica Duell pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of perjury for lying to a federal grand jury about a 2013 fire that killed her ex-boyfriend and three of her children and severely burned her daughter, Sa’fyre Terry.
Duell, 28, shed tears at her appearance in U.S. District Court before Senior Judge Gary Sharpe, where she admitted she made false statements to a grand jury that investigated the May 2, 2013, fire at 438Hulett St. Duell faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison at her sentencing on Sept. 12.
She agreed to waive an appeal on any sentence up to the 15 years.
“At the end of the day, we knew there was no question that Jennica said two different things at two different times in front of the grand jury,” Duell’s attorney, Cheryl Coleman, told reporters outside the federal courthouse on Broadway. “Because of that, in a very technical sense of the word, she was guilty of what we would commonly call inconsistent statement perjury where you say two things at two different times and the statements are such that both of them can’t be true.”
Duell had faced up to 25 years in prison on a five-count indictment brought by U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian’s office.
The blaze took the lives of David Terry, 32, and children Layah Terry, 3; Michael Terry, 2; and 11-month-old Donavan Duell. Sa’fyre, now 8, suffered severe burns to 75 percent of her body.
Sa’fyre’s story gained national attention. Thousands of people — including President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama — sent her cards and an online fundraising effort yielded more than $400,000 in donations.
In her testimony before the grand jury on May 24, 2013, Duell said an ex-boyfriend, Robert Butler, was the person who started the fire. She said she was there at the time. Two months later, Duell told theTimes Union she was not at the fire scene.
Her initial grand jury testimony led federal authorities to charge Butler with federal arson that carried the possibility of the death penalty.
On Jan. 31, 2014, Duell testified before the grand jury that Butler did not start the blaze. The next month, the case against Butler was dropped.
Evidence had surfaced against Edward Leon, 43, of St. Johnsville, who was later convicted of lying to a grand jury about his whereabouts at the time of the fire.
Leon, identified by prosecutors as a suspect in the fire, is serving a 10-year sentence for perjury. He denies any role in the blaze.
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