TROY – A man convicted of setting a house fire that killed two teenage girls 30 years ago returns to Rensselaer County Court Monday, hoping scientific advances will lead to his acquittal.

Richard J. Wright, 50, will have a bench trial this time with State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Ceresia, who vacated his 1988 murder and arson conviction, hearing the case.

Meredith Pipino, 13, and Tara Gilbert, 14, were asleep when they died in the Labor Day 1986 fire at 17 108th St. in Troy's Lansingburgh neighborhood after returning from a trip to Riverside Park in New Jersey.

Wright has been locked away since his January 1987 arrest. He was convicted by a county court jury of four counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Ceresia vacated Wright’s conviction in October based on motions by defense attorney Michael P. McDermott that developments in scientific technology exposed the methods used by the original arson investigators as being unable to prove that an accelerant was used to start the fire. No traces of an accelerant were ever found.

Ceresia will hear the case and rule whether Wright is guilty or not guilty.

Wright has been held without bail in the Rensselaer County Jail awaiting the retrial. When he was serving his original prison sentence at Marcy Correctional Facility his requests for parole were rejected.

When Wright applied for bail following his arrest and indictment, then-Rensselaer County Court Judge M. Andrew Dwyer Jr. denied it saying, "Arson is the one crime that strikes fear into the entire community."

Wright will appear in court with McDermott handling his defense for the retrial. Special Prosecutor Jasper Mills, a former Albany County assistant district attorney and special counsel to Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, is seeking to obtain Wright’s conviction.

The October decision that erased Wright's conviction devastated the Pipino family. "To rip the scab off after 30 years is a travesty to me," Patrick Pipino said following the hearing. "I was very close to my sister."

During his 1988 trial, Wright testified in his own defense saying he didn’t set the fatal fire. He attempted to repute the testimony of felon Martin ''Danny'' Williams III, who had 28 burglary charges reduced to a trespassing case in exchange for testifying against Wright as a government witness.

Williams testified during the original trial that Wright confessed to the arson two weeks after it occurred while they were smoking cocaine. During his appearance on the stand, Wright said he was at home when the fire occurred and that he never spoke to Williams.

In October, McDermott said he had expert witnesses who would testify about problems with the arson evidence presented during the 1988 trial. Thirty years ago, the arson investigators said burn patterns showed that an accelerant used to set the fire. McDermott said new technology showed the burn patterns uncovered in the original investigation can no longer be used to conclude an accelerant was employed in setting the fire.

At the time of the 1986 fire, police said it was set on the rear porch of the duplex at 17 108th St. The fire then spread to the neighboring buildings at 15 and 19 108th St. and to 350 Fourth Ave., which was located behind the structure.