PITTSFIELD â Lonnie Durfee appeared poised Wednesday to plead guilty to burning a hulking Biden-Harris hay bale display in what a judge concluded was an act of political intimidation.
But, after learning that the judge would sentence him to a year in jail, he withdrew his plea.
Durfee, 50, was arrested in October, shortly after he admitted to police that he set the blaze on the property of Holiday Brook Farm. He spent about 54 days cumulatively in pretrial lockup, and had requested he be sentenced to time served.
But, during a hearing Wednesday in Central Berkshire District Court, Judge Paul Smyth adopted the prosecutionâs recommendation of a year in the Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction, the maximum sentence for his charge of felony burning personal property.
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Suspect in Pittsfield, Lenox robberies held pending dangerousness hearing
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A Pittsfield man was arrested Monday in connection with a string of five convenience store robberies in just over 12 hours in Pittsfield and Lenox.
Patrick Sheerin, 28, is facing five counts of armed robbery in the spree, which ran from Sunday evening through Monday morning. He is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Central Berkshire District Court.
The first three robberies took place over the span of 25 minutes, according to a statement released Monday afternoon by Pittsfield Police. Sheerin allegedly demanded cash from the businesses and said he had a weapon, although none was shown at any of the robberies.
Sheerin allegedly began by robbing the Lipton Mart on South Street in Pittsfield at 6:51 p.m. Sunday, police said. About 7:04 p.m., Lenox Police responded to a report of the robbery in progress at the Lipton Mart on Pittsfield Road near the junction with Holmes Road, according to Chief Stephen E. OâBrien.
PITTSFIELD â Due to a documented lapse with alcohol, the man accused in a notorious Dalton blaze was ordered held in custody for up to 90 days, while awaiting trial on charges he torched a massive homemade Biden-Harris endorsement last fall.
In remanding Lonnie Durfee back to pretrial custody for violating pretrial release terms, Judge Paul Smyth ruled that no conditions of release exist to ensure the safety of the public from Durfee, given what he described as Durfeeâs history of violent behavior while intoxicated.
Prosecutors said a monitoring device showed that Durfee consumed alcohol twice in recent months.
Defense lawyer Robert Sullivan had argued that severe alcohol use disorder was difficult to overcome, and that Durfee â who is working with a counselor at the Brien Center to try to stay sober â should be permitted to continue wearing a monitoring device and to obey a curfew, which would allow him to keep his job as a laborer for a stone company.