Suspect who fled gets 2.5 years in jail

By Julie Manganis
Staff writer

January 15, 2009 09:46 am

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DANVERS — A man prosecutors have called a "career felon" was sent to jail for 21āÑ2 years yesterday.

But since Robert Doucette, 30, is awaiting sentencing in a burglary and probation violation, the sentence he got yesterday will likely just overlap with whatever he gets in the other cases, a Salem District Court judge acknowledged yesterday, during a hearing where Doucette pleaded guilty to drug possession with intent to distribute.

Doucette was arrested last October after state police got a tip that he was staying at the Motel 6 on Route 1 in Danvers.

When Doucette saw the troopers, he ducked back into the third-floor room a cousin had rented. When the cousin opened the door for police, they realized that Doucette had gone out the window, leaving his leather jacket behind on a balcony.

Police found methadone, OxyContin and Suboxone on Doucette and in his jacket after they arrested him following a foot chase behind the motel.

Doucette was wanted in connection with a pharmacy break in Waltham and on a parole violation.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Satelmajer asked Judge Richard Mori to impose the jail term to be served after he completes whatever sentence he ends up with in the other cases. But Mori said he cannot do that, since Doucette has not yet received a sentence in those other cases. It would be up to a judge in those cases to decide whether the sentences would be served consecutively, one after the other.

That, Mori said, is unlikely. Instead, Superior Court judges usually order their sentences to be served "forthwith," which essentially wipes out any other sentences a defendant is serving.

"You have quite a history, Mr. Doucette," Mori told the defendant.

"Given the facts of the case ... I think he should be indicted," the judge said.

Doucette appeared in court last fall in a hospital gown, covered in scrapes and bruises and frequently resting his head. He appeared to have healed by yesterday's court appearance. He's been held on $10,000 cash bail since his arrest.