ROCKLAND, Maine ― The man accused of killing a fellow inmate at the Bolduc Correctional Center two years ago is expected to plead guilty next week.
Zachary Titus, 35, formerly of Thomaston, initially pleaded guilty to a murder charge stemming from the June 24, 2018 strangling of his cellmate, Dana Bartlett. Titus is scheduled to appear in Knox County Court on Thursday to change his plea after striking a deal with the Maine Attorney General’s Office, according to his attorney Steven Peterson.
Titus is expected to plead guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter and face a sentence of 18 years in prison with all but 12 years suspended. However, Peterson will be able to argue for less than 12 years.
The case was initially scheduled for a jury trial in May, but the COVID-19 pandemic postponed trials across Maine.
On the afternoon of June 24, Titus and Bartlett got into a fight over cigarettes, according to investigators, who interviewed two others who shared the four-person cell.
One man who shared the cell said he witnessed Titus put Bartlett in a “sleeper hold” and the other told police when he returned to the cell from a smoke break that Bartlett was “lifeless” on the floor and Titus was trying to wake him up, according to the affidavit.
Both Bartlett and Titus told unidentified individuals in recorded phone calls that they got into a fight a couple of days before Bartlett’s death.
Leading up to his death, Bartlett was reportedly terrified of his cellmates, according to former inmates who spoke to the Bangor Daily News. They said Bartlett asked a guard multiple times to move him to another cell in the hours before he died. The guard allegedly refused to move him.
However, Maine Department of Corrections officials maintain their investigation found “no indication” that Bartlett asked to be removed from his cell because of safety concerns.
An autopsy conducted the morning after Bartlett’s death determined the cause of death was strangulation. The death was ruled a homicide.
Bartlett’s DNA was found on Titus’ shirt and wristwatch. No DNA from Bartlett was found on the two other cellmates.
At the time of the killing, Titus was serving a two-year sentence for theft. That sentence expired in September, but Titus remains in prison without bail after waiving his right to a bail hearing earlier this fall.