By Jill Harmacinski
The Daily News of Newburyport
LAWRENCE, Mass. — A city man who confessed to police that setting fires made him feel “high” was deemed a “danger” by a Lawrence District Court judge Friday and will remain in jail without bail.
Jason Given, 43, confessed to setting five fires in Lawrence within a year. He admitted to investigators that he enjoyed setting all of the fires in the middle of the night, said prosecutor Lindsay Nasson.
“That he got a high watching a house burn ... The defendant is capable of inflicting incredible devastation on the community around him and people he doesn’t even know,” Nasson said.
Judge Michael Uhlarik rejected a request by defense attorney Scott Bratton to allow Given to be released to the custody of his parents in Burlington pending his trial on 12 counts of burning a dwelling.
Given suffers from cerebral palsy along with dystonia, a neurological condition that causes involuntary muscle contraction.
Diagnosed with dystonia about two years ago, Given takes medications for the condition which has a lengthy list of side effects, including depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies and lack of impulse control, Bratton said.
“There are conditions that can be set. He is not receiving good care at the jail ... He could be released to his parent’s home and monitored by the court,” Bratton suggested.
Seated in a wheelchair, Given sat next to Bratton during the hour-long hearing held to determine whether he is danger to himself or the community at large. Ocassionally shaking slightly, he cried at times during the hearing.
His mother, in tears, testified that Given had previously worked for the family’s Burlington area landscaping company and held at least four other jobs at local businesses and offices. He had never previously shown any signs of violence or a tendency to destroy property, she said.
“In the growing up years, he was never any concern of ours,” Joanne Given said, using a Kleenex to dab tears from her eyes.
She also described her son, who was born with cerebral palsy, as honest. And that “if you asked him something, he’d have to tell you the truth.”
Given, of 172 Osgood St., confessed to setting a 6-alarm, early morning fire on May 7 on at 121-123 East Cambridge St. That fire displaced three families. Given is also charged with setting four other fires near his Osgood Street home, Nasson said.
Nasson started the hearing by entering numerous investigative reports written by police and fire investigators into evidence, along with a series of pictures from the fire scenes.
A state police fire investigator asked Given why he set the fires. He replied by saying he’d lost his and had lost everything, according to the report.
“I did a bad thing. I set that fire last night ... I don’t know why,” Given told investigators at the May 7 East Cambridge St. blaze, according to one report.
For the defense, Bratton called Given’s mother and his live-in girlfriend, Lisa Connors. Connors said she’s known Given for 20 years and had lived with him for the past 14 years.
Connors said after Given was diagnosed with dystonia and started new medication he was “depressed a lot, more tired than usual and anxious.”
While he previously held jobs, his most recent income was Social Security disability payments, she said.
Similarly to his mother, Connors said Given was never displayed violent or destructive behavior.
But under cross examination by Nasson, Connors admitted Given did things she didn’t know about. She also said he confessed to her during a phone conversation that he set the East Cambridge Street 6-alarm fire.
She said they also discussed fires Given is now charged with setting in their Osgood Street neighborhood. However, Given never commented to her on how those fires happened, she said.
Given is due back in court on June 16 for a probable cause hearing.
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