Veazie man concerned in separate homicides accused of violating probation
A Veazie man concerned in two separate homicides greater than 20 years aside was again within the Penobscot County Jail on Sunday dealing with new however a lot much less severe costs.
Cote Choneska, 43, made his first court docket look remotely from the jail on Monday earlier than District Courtroom Decide Meghan Szylvian on the Penobscot Judicial Heart.
Choneska denied the cost of violating his probation by persevering with to drive after his license had been suspended. He is also charged with failing to look for a Thursday court docket look on the working after license suspension cost.
Szylvian ordered that Choneska be held with out bail till March 16 when a listening to might be held to revoke his probation.
If his probation is revoked, Choneska could possibly be despatched to jail for as much as three years, the rest of his underlying sentence associated to one of many homicides.
Choneska was arrested in 2019 together with Joseph Johnson, 33, of Outdated City in reference to the demise of Berton Conley, 59, on Nov. 1, 2019, at his Essex Road house. Police have been referred to as to 258 Essex St. at about 7:50 a.m. that day. Firefighters situated a hearth within the kitchen and located Conley unconscious contained in the smoke-filled home.
Conley was taken to Northern Gentle Jap Maine Medical Heart the place he later was pronounced lifeless. The health worker decided the style of demise was a murder.
Johnson and Choneska have been charged with homicide and arson. Choneska pleaded responsible in October 2021 to hindering apprehension of Johnson. Choneska was sentenced to 5 years in jail with all however the roughly 22 months he had served suspended and two years of probation.
The Maine lawyer normal’s workplace dismissed costs of homicide and arson in opposition to Choneska as a result of he was not in the home when Johnson beat Conley and set the fireplace.
Johnson pleaded responsible to manslaughter and arson. He was sentenced in November 2021 to twenty years in jail with all however 9 suspended to be adopted by 4 years probation. Johnson is incarcerated at Maine State Jail in Warren.
Choneska was sentenced in 1998 to 30 years in jail with all however 18 years suspended for manslaughter within the taking pictures of a Clifton retailer proprietor the earlier 12 months. The proprietor survived being shot six occasions, however was left partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair.
Choneska was launched from Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston on Dec. 24, 2012, in response to the Maine Division of Corrections. He accomplished probation in 2019.
If convicted of the failure to look and driving after suspension costs, each misdemeanor Class E crimes, Choneska faces as much as six months in jail and fines of as much as $1,000 on every cost.
