SALEM — Chad Austin is now roughly halfway through his prison term in Massachusetts, the result of a resentencing in 2006 that cut his sentence to 19 to 20 years.
But that re-sentencing is just about the only thing that's gone in Austin's favor since he was sent to prison nearly a decade ago.
Austin, 34, is still facing a 10-year federal sentence for the New Hampshire bank robbery he committed before the chase and the kidnappings, to be served after he completes his state prison term. At the earliest, he will be in his mid-50s before he is released.
Austin is serving his sentence at the state's maximum security prison at Cedar Junction, where he has spent time in the high-security section for a series of violations behind bars, according to documents filed by prosecutors before Austin's resentencing in 2006.
He has been punished for having a handcuff key, getting involved in a drunken disturbance with other inmates, having homemade booze, fighting, and repeatedly for possessing weapons, including a filed-down toothbrush, a nail file, a nail, and a 5-inch sharpened piece of metal known as a shiv.
Department of Correction spokeswoman Diane Wiffin said she could not comment on Austin's status in prison or his disciplinary record behind bars, citing the state Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) law.
Nor would she comment on at least two lawsuits Austin has filed against corrections officials, both of which were taken as far as the state Appeals Court and dismissed.
Austin has also exhausted his appeals in the criminal case against him. After the original trial judge rejected his motion for a new trial in 2003, the state Appeals Court in 2005 upheld his conviction.
Soon after that, the Supreme Judicial Court told Austin it would not hear any further appeals of his conviction.
The following year, however, he finally had some success. In 2006, he asked to be resentenced, arguing that on the day he was convicted, in October 1998, the penalty for armed home invasion changed. Through an apparent legislative oversight, the penalty for armed home invasion was capped at 20 years.
Although the mistake was later corrected in the law, Judge Nancy Staffier-Holtz decided Austin was entitled to the benefit of that mistake, and cut his prison term from 30 to 40 years to 19 to 20 years.
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