Portland landlord Gregory Nisbet will spend three months in jail for a code violation related to the 2014 apartment fire that ultimately killed six young people.
Last month, Superior Court Justice Thomas Warren found Nisbet not guilty of manslaughter, but ruled he was guilty of a misdemeanor code violation for failing to provide an adequate emergency escape route on the building’s renovated third floor, even though he had been warned about how small the windows there were.
Three of the tragedy’s six victims died on that floor, unable to escape the fast-moving fire that roared up the stairs early in the morning after Halloween. At a sentencing hearing Thursday, the mother of one of those victims, Lisa Mazziotti, took the stand to remember her daughter Nikki, who was 29 years old when she died.
“The loss of a child is the worst kind of grief that anyone can go through. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemies,” she said.
She recalled her agony as she waited seven days for her daughter’s body to be identified, and her astonishment to learn that Nisbet played a game of tennis after he was told about the fire.
“I’ll never understand how a landlord could play tennis while their apartment house is burning, and not even know if their tenants made it out OK. I have so much anger against someone who has taken no responsibility or shown any remorse,” Mazziotti said.
She and prosecutors called for the maximum penalty: 180 days in jail. They argued that in addition to punishment, it would send a clear message to the state’s landlords.
But Nisbet’s lawyer, Matthew Nichols, argued that the message has already gone out, and that Nisbet’s code violation — too-small windows on the top floors — could be found on countless 20th century buildings in Portland and beyond. Jail time, he said, would be unprecedented.
“This is a no-jail case your honor. When you add in all the mitigating factors and the absence of a single solitary aggravating factor, you’re down to zero jail time,” he said.
During the trial, Nisbet declined to take the stand in his defense, but he did in the sentencing hearing. He apologized, and told the court he took responsibility for his actions and inactions.
“I can only imagine the pain and hell that you go through every single day. I myself cry and mourn daily the loss of those young lives. Mourn for their parents, and their children and for their loved ones,” he said.
Justice Warren brushed aside some of the arguments made by each side, saying that just because other buildings may not be up to code does not reduce the severity of the offense, when lives are actually lost. But he also said that Nisbet’s game of tennis that day was not necessarily a a sign of inhumanity, and he accepted Nisbet’s words of apology.
Warren chose a 90-day jail sentence, and a $1,000 fine.
After the sentence, victims’ family members seemed subdued and somewhat resigned. Ashley Summers, whose husband Steven died in the fire, said she appreciated Nisbet’s apparent remorse — to a degree.
“It was a good statement,” she said. “It’s hard for me to disregard the facts that cane out throughout. The negligence that came beforehand is what led to him feeling bad later. It’s just tougher.”
Summers said her two children are only beginning to accept their father’s death.
Nisbet has 21 days to appeal his sentence.