Quincy St. Fire Prelim Exam

The man accused of setting fire to a Hancock apartment building in July, killing 4 people, can now go to trial.

Ronald Kemppainen is accused of homicide and arson of a dwelling.

He had his preliminary exam in Houghton District Court.

It’s held to let a judge determine if there’s enough evidence of a crime for the accused person to stand trial.

And the judge ruled that there is.

Witnesses took the stand to say Kemppainen physically threatened them and threatened to set fire to the building just hours before the fatal fire started.

Testimony continued in the afternoon with a fire investigator.

Kemppainen is next scheduled to appear in court a week from today for arraignment in Circuit Court.

If he’s convicted, he would face a life sentence with no parole on the homicide counts and up to 20 years on the arson count.