By Jill Harmacinski
The Eagle-Tribune
SALEM, Mass. — A Superior Court judge sided with a prosecutor and will not allow release accused Lawrence arsonist Jason Given to the custody of his parents while he awaits trial on 22 criminal counts.
Given, 43, admitted to investigators he set a 6-alarm fire at 121-123 East Cambridge St. in Lawrence on May 7, as well as four previous fires in his Osgood Street neighborhood during the past year.
When asked why he lit fires, Given told authorities “it gave him a high,” according to police reports and court records.
Last week, Given’s attorney asked the court to set bail and release his client, on a GPS monitoring bracelet, to the custody of his parents in Burlington while the court case proceeds.
Assistant District Attorney James Gubitose vehemently objected, saying Given cannot be around any flammables and could potentially harm his own parents.
Monday, Judge Timothy Feeley issued a written decision, saying Given is too dangerous to be released on bail from Middleton Jail.
Feeley wrote "... this court finds by clear and convincing evidence that no conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of the community.”
“On the record before this court, the court finds that Given is dangerous,” wrote Feeley, noting the “case against Given is very strong” and that he confessed to igniting “a horrific set fire that jeopardized the lives of many people.”
“In this court’s view, anyone who sets fires in or on buildings in crowded residential neighborhoods is dangerous,” Feeley continued.
The judge added in some criminal cases, the charged conduct “is so extreme, inexplicable, and unwarranted” that no conditions of release would likely be obeyed.
“This is such a case,” Feeley said. “This court has no confidence that Given would abide by any conditions this court might impose in an attempt to reasonably assure the safety of the community.”
Given, of 172 Osgood St., has been indicted and arraigned on 22 criminal counts: seven counts of burning of a dwelling, nine counts of wanton destruction of property and six counts of cruelty to animals.
Six pets, including a dog, two turtles and three birds, died in fires Given said he set.
In addition to the 6-alarm blaze, the other fires Given admitted to setting were all at 176-178 Osgood St. -- “the two-family residence immediately adjacent to Given’s home. All four fires occurred during the nighttime,” Feeley wrote in his decision.
Those four fires occurred on July 17, 2014, and Jan. 17, April 3 and April 14, 2015, according to court papers.
Born with cerebral palsy, Given also suffers from dystonia, a neurological condition that causes involuntary muscle contraction. Two years ago, Given was diagnosed with dystonia.
Defense attorney Scott Bratton has pointed to Given’s dystonia diagnosis and the prescription drug Amantandine which he takes. Bratton told Feeley the drug has severe side effects and provided him last week with information about the drug.
Feeley said he “considered” but wasn’t “persuaded” that Given should be released “because the fire setting, his first ever charged criminal violations, was caused by the medication he was taking for his dystonia.”
Severe side effects of Amantandine include aggression, agitation, confusion, depression, hallucinations, memory loss, paranoid thoughts and more, Feeley wrote.
But the judge noted, Given’s longtime, live-in girlfriend, Lisa Connors, testified before the Essex County Grand Jury and “did not suggest that Given suffered from any of the side effects of Amantandine.”
“The court understands that the fire-setting is neither rational or understandable, but the record supports a finding that the fires were set for personal gratification, and not due the effects of medication,” Feeley wrote.
Given is scheduled to return to Superior Court on Aug. 25 for a pre-trial conference.
___
(c)2015 The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.)
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.