A Westmoreland County prosecutor told a judge a 17-year-old New Kensington youth coerced witnesses, concocted a plot to shank a corrections officer and made threats against police officers while in jail.
Logan J. King was charged in connection with a shooting last September in New Kensington, outside of the Valley Royal Court apartment complex, that left one man injured.
King was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and other related offenses.
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani on Friday rejected a defense request for King to be released on nominal bond to await trial. King is being held without bond in the juvenile offenders pod at the Lawrence County Prison.
“There are no adequate conditions to protect the community,” the judge said.
King is charged as an adult.
Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar said shortly after the arrest and before a preliminary hearing, King, while incarcerated, made a series of threats and racial epithets that were overheard on recorded calls and by jail staff.
In those calls, King was heard bragging about the incident and claimed it burnished his reputation on the streets of New Kensington, Lazar said.
Prosecutors opposed a modification of King’s bond that would allow for his pretrial release.
“The defendant is a danger to the community,” Lazar said.
Police said King fired multiple shots at an unarmed man during an argument, then fled and barricaded himself in an apartment before he eventually surrendered. The victim suffered two gunshot wounds, one to his chest and another that struck him in the right hip.
Assistant Public Defender Wade Diedrich said King was entitled to bail and, if released, he would live with his mother, who does not live in New Kensington.
“There is a colorable self-defense claim in this case,” Diedrich said.
The defense is also pursuing a request to have King’s prosecution transferred to juvenile court, where, if convicted, he cannot be held in custody beyond his 21st birthday.
King will turn 18 in July, according to court records.