Austin Arsonist Sentenced to Prison
Austin, MN (KROC-AM News) - An Austin man has been sentenced to over 7-years in prison for an arson conviction.
30-year-old Darrell Wigham previously entered an Alford plea to a first-degree arson charge through a plea agreement that led to the dismissal of attempted murder charges stemming from a fire inside an Austin home in March of last year. The plea means he doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him of the crime.
Wigham was accused of setting fire to the home after becoming upset with another person staying at the residence. One witness told Austin police that Wigham threatened to kill the occupants and later told another person he was "burning the house down." He alleged poured paint thinner on a door leading to the upstairs of the house, where two women were sleeping. They ended up having to climb through a window and onto the roof of the home to escape the flames.
Wigham was also ordered to serve an additional one-year prison term for assaulting a correctional officer while he was being held in the Mower County jail last May. He entered a guilty plea to a fourth-degree assault charge in that case today.
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