Man gets 4 years in fatal race, gun, tampering incidents
May 11—In plea bargains last week, a man was convicted in a 2017 street race that killed three people in Manchester, tampering with a witness in that case, committing gun offenses three years later, and conspiring in 2021 to tamper with a witness in a domestic violence case against his brother.
MULTI-CASE DEAL
DEFENDANT: Gustin Qusha Douglas, 29, most recently of Walker Street in Manchester.
CONVICTIONS: Witness tampering, racing on the highway, reckless driving, three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment in fatal 2017 race; carrying a pistol without a permit, illegal possession of a large-capacity magazine, interfering with police in 2020 Manchester incident; conspiring to tamper with a witness in 2021.
SENTENCE: 10 years, suspended after four years in prison, five years of probation.
Gustin Qusha Douglas, 29, who most recently listed an address on Walker Street in Manchester, got a total prison sentence of four years in the cases, most prosecuted in Hartford Superior Court but one prosecuted in Vernon, court records show.
Douglas may be eligible for parole after serving two years and will be on probation for five years after he is released from state Department of Correction custody, facing up to six more years behind bars if he violates release conditions.
He wasn't behind the wheel of the car that crashed on Center Street in Manchester shortly before 1:30 a.m. on May 20, 2017, killing passengers William C. King, 18, Bernaria Mickens, 21, and Devon Smith, 17.
But Douglas was driving a Mercedes that authorities believe was racing with the Infiniti driven by Jordan Cross that slammed into a utility pole, causing a raging fire that killed Cross' three back-seat passengers.
In that incident, Douglas was convicted in last week's Hartford Superior Court plea bargain of racing on the highway, reckless driving, and three counts of reckless endangerment.
He was also convicted of witness tampering based on the admission of one of his passengers that she had lied when she initially told police that Douglas wasn't racing. The witness said Douglas and two fellow passengers in his car had instructed her to deny racing, according to an affidavit by Manchester police Officer Jason Moss.
Douglas was convicted of all the race-related charges under the Alford doctrine, meaning that he didn't admit guilt but acknowledged that the prosecution had enough evidence for a conviction at trial.
Cross is serving a 13 1/2 -year prison term for three counts of first-degree manslaughter.
Also in the Hartford Superior Court plea bargain, Douglas was convicted of carrying a pistol without a permit, illegal possession of a large-capacity magazine, and interfering with police in Manchester on Aug. 14, 2020.
In the Vernon Superior Court plea bargain, Douglas pleaded guilty to conspiring to tamper with a witness, court records show.
That conviction was based on statements by a woman who had accused his brother, Geoffrey Douglas, of invading her Mansfield home and assaulting her in May 2021.
The woman said in a sworn statement to police that Gustin Douglas pointed a gun at her when he first pulled a car up next to her on the street in July 2021, according to an affidavit by Inspector P.J. Clark of the Tolland state's attorney's office.
She said she remained fearful of him during subsequent incidents in which she signed a letter recanting her accusations against Geoffrey Douglas, had it notarized, and delivered it to an investigator in the public defender's office, the inspector reported. She said Gustin Douglas also took her to Windham Hospital and told her to report that a bad cut inside her lip that had occurred when Geoffrey Douglas punched her was the result of a fall.
The witness-tampering conspiracy count Gustin Douglas pleaded guilty to doesn't represent an admission that he had a gun or threatened the woman.
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