Church arsonist pleads guilty in Springfield case
By Associated Press | Wednesday, November 17, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
SPRINGFIELD – A Springfield man serving a federal prison sentence for burning down a mostly-black church to protest the election of President Barack Obama has been sentenced to six years in a case brought by state prosecutors.
The sentence is concurrent with the nine-year federal term Benjamin Haskell received for arson in the fire that destroyed the Macedonia Church of God in Christ hours after Obama’s 2008 election. That means the 25-year-old Haskell won’t have to serve additional time.
He pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a 10-count state indictment that included drug distribution charges and a charge that he set fire to a vacant house back in 2003.
Superior Court Judge Cornelius Moriarty nearly rejected the plea bargain with prosecutors as too leniant, calling Haskell a “one-man crime wave.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1297018
