Pittsfield – On Monday (September 29), a jury of six in Central Berkshire District Court found Great Barrington resident David Magadini guilty of 7 counts of trespassing, according to the District Court clerk.
A number of witnesses were summoned to the proceedings by the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney David Capeless himself prosecuted the case.
The trespassing violations occurred over a period of time from February to June 2014, according to the Great Barrington Police Department.
Frustrations have mounted in Great Barrington over Mr. Magadini’s use of private entryways and public buildings to sleep, keep warm, or to park his rolling cart of belongings, and in one case, to hoard his things on private property.
The town has been largely tolerant of Mr. Magadini’s homelessness, but his lack of hygiene, and use of public — and sometimes private — facilities as bathrooms, has sent him back out on the pavement and on to the next.
One witness was Alan Kalish, owner of the Vault Gallery and manager of the apartment building at 4 Castle Street. “He slept there at night,” said Kalish, “scared people, forced his way onto third floor, which is locked, waited for someone to open it, and walked in behind him. He demanded that I rent him an apartment.”
Kalish, who said that Magadini’s trespassing has been “going on for years,” said that he had a meeting with the District Attorney Monday morning. There were eight or nine witnesses, he added, and Magadini, who arrived on his own, had a court appointed lawyer.
Triplex Cinema owner Richard Stanley was another witness. Magadini frequently trespassed at Barrington House, Stanley’s large complex on Main Street. “He was sleeping in my building,” said Stanley. “Period — end of story.”
“There is a whole slew of people who have gone through similar experiences with him,” said another witness who wished to remain anonymous. In town, he added, Magadini has “accumulated ill will.”
At the Mason Library, however, Assistant Director Jessica Magelaner said that Magadini was a “pretty standard patron. We have issues with him, but we have issues with other patrons, too.” Mostly, she said, problems revolved around computer time and printing.
Magadini will serve 30 days for the violations, reporting to the House of Corrections on January 5, 2015.
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