Justice in 2005 fatal arson case took time, but it was meted out on Friday

Richard Ellison (Police mugshot)

CONCORD - A Concord man was sentenced on Friday to 40 years to life in the death of 85-year-old Robert McMillan in 2005.

The sentencing took place in Merrimack Superior Court, where Richard Ellison, 49, was sentenced after being found guilty of second degree murder this spring.

Ellison was found to have recklessly caused the death of McMillan, of 284 N. State Street, Concord on Dec. 9, 2005, when under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life, Ellison stared a fire at McMillan's residence.

The Cold Case homicide from 2005 was investigated by the state's Cold Case Unit.

Ellison was arrested on Oct. 12, 2018, and the case was initially tried in 2021 but ended with the court declaring a mistrial after a third juror was excused.

It was then retried beginning on April 11. On May 27 the jury found Ellison guilty of the second-degree murder after two days of deliberations.

The state presented more than 40 witnesses during each trial.

On Friday sentencing Judge John Kissinger noted, "The passage of time does not diminish the defendant's heinous crime in which an 84-year-old, disabled man, burned alive in a fire."

Given the nature of the crime and the defendant's long criminal history (38 prior criminal convictions), the Attorney General's Office feels the 40-year minimum sentence that the court handed down was warranted.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan G. Morrell and Assistant Attorney General Rachel C. Harrington of the Attorney General's Office Cold Case Unit.