A Thomaston man was sentenced to serve eight more years in prison for killing another inmate at the Bolduc Correctional Facility in Warren in 2018.
Zachary Titus, 36, was sentenced to 18 years in prison with all but 8 suspended during a hearing Friday in the Knox County Superior Court, for strangling fellow inmate Dana R. Bartlett, the Courier-Gazette reported.
Titus was already serving a two-year sentence for theft at the time of the killing.
Titus pleaded guilty to manslaughter in December 2020; he was initially charged with murder for the June 24, 2018 death of Bartlett. As part of the deal, the charges were reduced and the maximum amount of time Titus could serve for the death was 18 years.
The maximum sentence that can come with a manslaughter conviction is 30 years in Maine.
On the afternoon of June 24, 2018, Bartlett and Titus got into a fight about cigarettes in their shared cell that turned physical. Before his death, Bartlett reportedly asked guards to move him out of fear of his fellow inmates earlier on June 24.
Maine Department of Corrections officials have maintained that an investigation found “no indication” that Bartlett asked to be removed from his cell because of safety concerns.
After his release, Titus will be placed on four years probation, the paper reported.