ALBANY — The U.S. Federal prosecutors have announced their intention to pursue the death penalty against Edward Leon, the Schenectady arson suspect. Leon was charged last year for his alleged involvement in the 2013 fire that claimed four lives and left Safyre Terry, a young girl, with severe injuries. This information was revealed in a letter filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court in Albany.
The Acting U.S. Attorney General, Todd Blanche, has ”authorized and directed” the Albany prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Leon.
As a result of this decision, prosecutors will now seek a new indictment and a formal notice of intent, as stated in the letter.
It remains uncertain whether this decision will impact the trial timeline in this complex case.
Last month, the trial, initially scheduled for June, was moved to September.
This decision comes after a January meeting of the Department of Justice’s Case Section Committee, where the possibility of seeking the death penalty in this case was discussed. This meeting was also mentioned in a similar motion filed in December.
In July 2025, Leon was indicted with a felony count of malicious use of fire resulting in death, a charge that carries a minimum term of seven years in prison and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Leon, aged 53, is accused of setting the May 2, 2013 fire that destroyed a rental property at 438 Hulett St. The fire claimed the lives of David Terry, 32, and his three children — Michael Terry, 2, Layah Terry, 3, and Donovan Duell, 11 months.
The fire also left Safyre Terry, who was 5 years old at the time, with severe burns. Safyre was found by firefighters in her father’s arms and later became the focus of a global Christmas-card project in December 2015.
Leon was previously tried and convicted of perjury in relation to the 2013 arson investigation.
Evidence presented at Leon’s perjury trial portrayed him as an obsessed ex-boyfriend who used an anonymous cellphone to send threatening messages to his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, David Terry, in the weeks leading up to the fire.
The jury found that Leon, a delivery driver for a company in Amsterdam, lied to a grand jury when he claimed he went directly to work that morning, denying being in Schenectady, and lied when he denied knowing who operated the anonymous cellphone.
Leon eventually confessed to authorities that he was in Schenectady and that he went to find Terry’s residence with the intention of confronting him. He admitted to searching for Terry on the morning of the fire in a recorded interrogation played at trial.
Leon was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the perjury case and was released in May 2022.
Almost two years after his release, prosecutors alleged that in February 2024, Leon confessed in a recorded phone call with an unnamed ex-girlfriend that he was responsible for the fatal fire.
It was also alleged by the prosecution that while Leon was being held in Rensselaer County Jail in 2015 awaiting his perjury trial, he confessed to a fellow inmate that he had set the fire.
Since his arrest for arson in July 2025, Leon has remained in custody.
Disagree – Capital punishment is not the answer for justice.
Disagree – Executing someone won’t bring back the lives lost in the fire.
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