The arrest wasn't Berry's first. His record of convictions dates back at least 10 years; all of the crimes were committed in his hometown of Enfield.
On May 9, 2002, Berry was fined $150 for disorderly conduct, according to judicial branch records. On Jan. 10, 2007, he received a 90-day suspended sentence after being convicted of second disorderly conduct, the records show.
Six months later, on July 10, 2007, he was arrested on several charges after an assault involving an officer and a police dog. He received a suspended sentence of three years.
He was sent to jail for a year for violation of probation on June 11, 2009.
Berry got more prison time on Feb. 23, 2010, when he was sentenced to 18 months for cruelty to animals for a 2008 incident in which he kicked a cat that later died.
During Berry's arraignment at Superior Court in the Enfield double-fatal crash, Judge Howard Scheinblum referred to Berry's Connecticut record.
Scheinblum also said that the Feb. 14 crash happened because Berry "forced" a car off the road with his pickup truck, causing it to flip, "and he didn't even stop."
Passengers Michael "Mickey" Kennedy, 57, and Colleen Caruso, 34, both of East Windsor, died. Driver Glenn McIntyre, 32, and his other passenger, Joanna Olden, 31, survived.
One witness told police that he thought the truck was chasing the car — a red Nissan Sentra — based on the speed of both vehicles at the time of the crash. Other witnesses, employees of Mickey Finn's Café, told police that they saw Berry "spinning his tires along with the red car" as the five left the bar.
Berry told investigators that he was concerned about McIntyre — whom he knows — when he saw McIntyre's car "swerving" after both drivers left the bar. He followed McIntyre in his pickup truck to make sure he made it home all right, according to a police report. McIntyre's car "zig zagged" and suddenly was in front of him, even though Berry told investigators he had been a "considerable distance" behind it. The pickup truck and car collided.
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