Sergio Correa, accused of killing three members of the Lindquist family and setting their home on fire during a Griswold crime spree in December 2017, cannot afford to pay for his defense and will be getting a state-appointed attorney later this month.

Correa, 26, of Hartford, who is being held on a $3.3 million bond at the Northern Correctional Institution, smiled at family members in the gallery and complained about the conditions of his incarceration when he appeared before New London Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein Monday. He said about a week ago, prison officials put him in solitary confinement for three weeks even though, he said, he has no disciplinary infractions.

"They're acting a little weird," he said.

The judge told him to take up the matter with his attorney, when one is appointed. Because his codefendant, his 23-year-old adopted sister, Ruth Correa, is represented by in-house public defender M. Fred DeCaprio, Correa's case will be assigned to a private lawyer who contracts with the state to represent defendants when the public defenders have a conflict.

He is charged with murder with special circumstances, three counts of felony murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree arson and second-degree arson and home invasion.

The arrest warrant affidavit that details the crimes he is accused of committing with his sister will remain sealed at least through his next court appearance on July 30. The affidavit in Correa's file contains different or additional information than the affidavit used to obtain a warrant for Ruth Correa's arrest, according to court officials. The affidavit in the sister's case has been unsealed. She is being held at the Janet S. York Correctional Institution on the same charges her brother faces. Her next court date is Wednesday.

At his arraignment in June, Correa told the judge that his sister, who implicated him in the crimes in an interview with detectives, is lying.

Attorney William Gerace is representing Correa in a violation of probation case that landed him in jail while the state police investigated his involvement in the triple murder and home invasion in Griswold. Correa and his family have indicated they cannot afford to pay Gerace to represent him in the murder cases.

According to court documents, he was on probation for robbery and gun crimes he committed as a 16-year-old when he arranged to meet Matthew Lindquist, 21, near the Lindquist family home in the Kenwood Estates on Dec. 20, 2017. Instead of providing Lindquist with drugs in exchange for access to a gun safe in the home, as planned, Correa and his sister fatally stabbed Lindquist and left his body in a wooded area, the state police allege. State police say the siblings then went to the Lindquist home, killing Lindquist's parents, 61-year-old Janet Lindquist and 56-year-old Kenneth Lindquist, and set the house on fire before fleeing with guns, Matthew Lindquist's car and other items. 

Correa was arrested on Feb. 21, 2018 in Hartford and charged with interfering with police, possession of a controlled substance and possession of narcotics with intent to sell. Hartford police said he had a plastic bag containing nine smaller baggies, each of which had "a white, rock-like substance" inside. That same day, Correa was charged with violation of probation, according to court records.

He was charged in May with the murder/home invasion crimes after Matthew Lindquist's body was discovered in Griswold and the state police Eastern District Major Crime Squad put together the case.

k.florin@theday.com