Joseph Gulluni Jr., accused of setting Palmer rental property on fire, no longer facing attempted murder charges

Joseph Gulluni Jr., the 63-year-old man accused of setting a fire that forced two of his tenants to flee for their lives, was arraigned on arson and other charges in Worcester Superior Court Tuesday.

Gulluni Jr. pleaded not guilty to charges of arson of a dwelling, burning a building to defraud an insurer and two counts of burning personal property. He will remain out on $75,000 cash bail, the money he posted after he was originally arraigned in district court.

Gulluni Jr., a cousin of Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, was arraigned in Worcester County to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest since the case originated in Hampden County.

He will remain on GPS and confined to his home but will be allowed to leave for medical and legal appointments.

Authorities accuse Gulluni Jr. of setting a multi-unit rental property in Palmer on fire on June 4.

When he was originally arraigned in the case, Gulluni Jr. was charged with two counts of attempted murder. Those charges were not part of the indictments handed up by a grand jury, however.

“We felt, from the beginning, the case was drastically overcharged and apparently the grand jury may have felt the same as the commonwealth has not elected to go forward with two pretty serious counts of attempted murder,” Gulluni Jr.’s defense lawyer Daniel Kelly said after the arraignment. “This was an investigation that from day one was compromised because they had already determined who did it before there was a crime. This was an accident and we’re going to show it.”

Investigators said a neighbor’s surveillance cameras caught Gulluni Jr. entering a garage at the building at 2002 Palmer Road in Three Rivers.

A “flash” was captured on the footage and Gulluni Jr. was seen exiting moments later, according to investigators.

The building went up in flames in minutes.

A man living on the second floor and a woman living on the first floor were seen on the video running outside, records said.

“Despite the imminent threat to his own life (the first-floor tenant) ignored the blinding, choking smoke that had consumed the interior hallway of the structure and persisted in his efforts to warn (the woman on the first floor) of the fire,” Palmer Police Lt. Christopher J. Burns wrote in his report.

Authorities said Gulluni Jr. tried to cash in on a $500,000 insurance policy after the fire.

In a previous court appearance, Kelly argued investigators did not find an accelerant in his client’s car and believed the fire could have been started by tenants who smoked cigarettes or squatters.

The case was continued to next month.

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