BY ANDREW AMELINCKX

Special to the Morning Sentinel

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A “frightened” David Casey on Thursday became the fourth defendant arraigned in Berkshire Superior Court in connection with the August killings of three Pittsfield men.

Police and prosecutors say Casey, 62, of Canaan, N.Y., helped bury the bodies, and have charged him as an accessory to the crimes.

Casey pleaded not guilty to three counts each of accessory after the fact to murder, kidnapping and witness intimidation. Judge John A. Agostini ordered him held on $1 million bail at the Berkshire County Jail.

Casey’s attorney, Robert M. Fuster, said after Thursday’s court appearance his client was frightened.

“He’s under a tremendous amount of stress,” Fuster said. “He’s never been in jail.”

The bail remained the same from Casey’s initial arraignment in Central Berkshire District Court last month.

Fuster said he would ask for a bail review once he sees the entire case from the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office.

Casey and three other men — Adam Lee Hall, 34, of Peru; Caius Veiovis, 31, of Pittsfield; and David Chalue, 44, of North Adams — were indicted by a grand jury Oct. 6, paving the way for their case to be tried in Superior Court.

Casey’s co-defendants were arraigned earlier this week and have pleaded not guilty to three counts each of murder, kidnapping and witness intimidation. Veiovis is formerly of Augusta, Maine.

Police and prosecutors said the three defendants charged with murder killed David Glasser, Edward Frampton and Robert Chadwell after kidnapping them Aug. 28 from the Linden Street apartment where Glasser and Frampton lived.

The plot allegedly was put into action to keep Glasser from testifying against Hall — a ranking member of the local Hells Angels chapter — in a kidnapping and assault case.

Frampton and Chadwell were killed because they happened to be present when the defendants came to get Glasser, according to authorities.

Casey said Hall pressured him into using an excavator to bury the victims’ remains in a ditch on private property in Becket, according to what Casey allegedly told police. Hall was charged with a fourth count of witness intimidation for allegedly coercing Casey.

“I am confident that my client is not a principal (factor in the alleged crime),” Fuster said. “I’m confident that his behavior was coerced.”

A trial date for the defendants has yet to be determined. Many murder cases can take two years or more to make it to trial, as prosecutors and defense attorneys submit numerous motions in advance of presenting their cases to a jury.

Fuster said he thinks it would be impossible for the case to go to trial before next summer based on the schedule for motions already in place.

Andrew Amelinckx is a staff writer for the Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle.