An attempted homicide charge against a Tremont man was dropped Thursday morning at his preliminary hearing.
Derek Weaver, 28, was facing an attempted homicide charge after he allegedly fired a shotgun at a man, whom he called his friend, as he drove away from an area near his home on W. Laurel St. in Tremont on May 21.
Weaver, angry that the victim had been talking to his girlfriend for about a year, allegedly confronted him around 12:30 a.m. that morning on W. Laurel St. in Tremont. After getting pinned between their vehicles, Weaver grabbed a shotgun from his teal Lincoln and fired a shot that hit the victim’s pickup truck, shattering the rear window and injuring the victim’s ear, police say in their initial court filing.
Police say it was unclear whether the victim’s ear was hit with glass from the window or a pellet from the shotgun shell.
Weaver has been in Schuylkill County Prison since the date of the incident on $75,000 cash bail.
At his preliminary hearing on Thursday before District Magistrate Judge David Rossi, prosecutors were forced to drop several of the more serious charges against Weaver, including attempted homicide and aggravated assault, because the victim was a no-show, according to Assistant District Attorney Mike Stine.
Charges of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure and a count of simple assault were also dropped.
Rossi did hold charges of reckless endangerment, another count of simple assault, and possessing an instrument of crime, all misdemeanors, as well as a few summary offenses, over for Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas.
While Weaver was potentially looking at 10-20 years in state prison if he was found guilty on the attempted homicide charge, the charge of possessing an instrument of crime does carry a maximum penalty of 5 years if he’s found guilty on it.
Stine said the Commonwealth did not drop charges that he believes can be proven without testimony from the primary victim in this case.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
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