DANVERS — Scott W. Delp, a Peabody man with a lengthy criminal record who was arrested while toting a handgun as he fled through a North Street yard in September, pleaded guilty Thursday in Salem Superior Court to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, Essex County District Attorney spokesman Stephen O'Connell said.
Delp, who was 28 at the time of the incident, received a sentence from Judge Timothy Feeley of seven to 11 years in state prison, said O'Connell and Assistant District Attorney James Gubitose.
Delp gave his plea in the afternoon after he and his attorney told the judge that morning they were having trouble seeing "eye-to-eye."
Delp was arrested Sept. 24, 2008 after state police spotted a BMW, in which Delp was a passenger, with a missing a license plate. The driver was preparing to turn from Route 1 to North Street.
A man in another car pulled alongside the cruiser and told the trooper Delp was a passenger in the BMW and was wanted on warrants.
The trooper pulled the BMW over on North Street, and asked Delp for his identification, but when Delp gave the wrong name, the trooper asked Delp for his zodiac sign, and Delp gave the wrong one for the date he gave.
As more Danvers police arrived, Delp ran off through a yard, prosecutors said. As he did so, a loaded, unlicensed .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun fell from his pants. Delp scooped up the gun, scaled a fence, but dropped it when he landed on a chair and tumbled to the ground. As he tried to crawl back to the gun, police restrained and arrested him.
During his arraignment, Delp pleaded not guilty to several firearms and other charges, but with a record stretching back to his teens, he was held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing. A judge later called him a "career criminal," refused to release him and also revoked his probation in an earlier case.
Thursday's plea came after Delp and his attorney, William O'Hare, told Feeley they made a poor fit.
"I'm not having any communication with the defendant," O'Hare said, meaning their talk was not productive to the case.
"Me and attorney O'Hare are not seeing eye-to-eye on this case," Delp said, adding his family was "shopping" for a Boston attorney who would not be cowed by the police or the district attorney.
Over Delp's and O'Hare's objections, Feeley denied O'Hare's motion to withdraw from the case, saying O'Hare was "experienced in criminal defense matters" and Delp should have hired a new lawyer before the hearing. Feeley said Delp had told the court he could not afford an attorney of his choice.
"Today, we are going forward," Feeley said. "I'm not going to delay a suppression motion that has been scheduled for a long time."
Staff Writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673, or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.
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