BOSTON, Feb. 5, 2014—A homeless man with a long and violent record was arraigned last week for his third failure to register as a Level III sex offender, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

CHARLES LEE BUFFORD (D.O.B. 2/18/55) was arrested Jan. 25 at the Pine Street Inn by Boston Police and US Marshals who took him into custody for failure to register as a sex offender as a subsequent offense. At arraignment on Jan. 27, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Fitzgerald recommended that Bufford be held on $1500 cash bail and that his open bail be revoked in an open case charging assault with a dangerous weapon. Boston Municipal Court Judge Michael Coyne released him on his own recognizance and declined to revoke his open bail.

Bufford was previously convicted of failing to register twice in 2007 and once in 2008, all three times in the Boston Municipal Court and all three times receiving house of correction sentences. He also has two Massachusetts convictions for assault with a dangerous weapon and five for assault and battery, including a conviction for which he served three years in prison. In 1978, he was convicted of first-degree murder in Alabama but was acquitted at re-trial after that state revised its death penalty statute. In 1984, he was convicted of first-degree assault, first-degree sexual assault, and first-degree burglary in Connecticut and sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Bufford was represented by attorney Dakota Martin. He will return to court on Feb. 19.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.