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Man pleads guilty to burning flag
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NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- A homeless man who claimed he set fire to an American flag hanging outside a Northampton home to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been placed on probation for two years.
Prosecutors say 65-year-old Douglas Wight had faced charges of vandalizing property and burning a tree, but on Wednesday pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of malicious destruction of property over $250. He must also pay more than $300 in restitution.
Wight tells the Daily Hampshire Gazette that he accepted the plea bargain because a conviction on the more serious charges would have forced him to give up his driver's license, and he lives in his pickup truck.
Prosecutors say the flag's owner felt the punishment was adequate.
Wight was linked to similar incidents in other towns, but was never charged.
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO89274/
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- A homeless man who claimed he set fire to an American flag hanging outside a Northampton home to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been placed on probation for two years.
Prosecutors say 65-year-old Douglas Wight had faced charges of vandalizing property and burning a tree, but on Wednesday pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of malicious destruction of property over $250. He must also pay more than $300 in restitution.
Wight tells the Daily Hampshire Gazette that he accepted the plea bargain because a conviction on the more serious charges would have forced him to give up his driver's license, and he lives in his pickup truck.
Prosecutors say the flag's owner felt the punishment was adequate.
Wight was linked to similar incidents in other towns, but was never charged.
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO89274/
