AKRON -- A hearing motion for the man accused of setting the fires that killed a family of seven and a couple was continued Tuesday.
Stanley Ford, 59, was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning.
Ford is accused of setting fire to a Fultz Street home in May 2017, killing seven members of the Boggs-Huggins family. Ford lived on Hillcrest Street, which runs perpendicular to Fultz Street.
The fire killed father Dennis Huggins, mother Angela Boggs and their five children, Cameron, Alivia, Kylle, Daisia and Jered. A sixth child, who was 18, was not home at the time of the fire.
Investigators later linked Ford to another deadly arson that occurred about one year earlier on Fultz Street. That fire killed Lindell Lewis and Gloria Jean Hart.
Ford was also connected to a vehicle arson that was reported in January 2017. Authorities say an SUV was set on fire in a Russell Avenue driveway.
Ford is charged with 22 counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated arson, one count of cruelty to animals, one count of arson and one count of aggravated menacing.
Ford's trial was delayed and is now scheduled to begin in January. His attorneys have argued that Ford should have separate trials for the fires and that death penalty cases are not "business as usual," claiming the cases are separate and distinct.
Summit County prosecutors say the arsons were part of a common scheme and that jurors should be able to distinguish between them.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
