A 17-year-old Scranton boy will go to trial on charges he threatened and struck another teenager with a gun over an Xbox video game console, Magisterial District Judge John P. Pesota ordered Wednesday.
Meanwhile, another teenager allegedly involved in the attack, Jordan Aguilera, 18, 200 Coar Place, was arrested Wednesday. He is facing charges that include robbery, criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person.
It's unclear what Mr. Aguilera's role was in the attack. His bail and preliminary hearing date were not available Wednesday.
Jalel Monroe, 17, first came knocking at 17-year-old Mark Cafferty's house at 1506 Prospect Ave., asking if Mark had any marijuana, to which Mark said no. Mark testified at a preliminary hearing Wednesday he did sometimes sell very small amounts to friends every now and then.
Half an hour later, Jalel came back. When Mr. Cafferty opened the door, Jalel came in with a gun. An unknown man holding a knife drew Mark's focus until Jalel hit him over the head with the butt of his gun.
He passed out for a handful of seconds. When he woke, he found his brother fighting off a large group of people. He entered the fray and hit Jalel five times on the back of the head before he noticed he was bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds. During all this, the man tried to grab Mark's Xbox but dropped it on the street while fleeing.
When police brought photos of suspects to his hospital room, Mark had no trouble recognizing Jalel's, he testified in the preliminary hearing.
Jalel was charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, simple assault, conspiracy to commit simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats and firearms not to be carried without a license when he was arrested. All of those charges, except for the firearms charge because attorneys could not produce evidence to the contrary Wednesday, will be bound for trial.
Jalel's public defender, Joseph Kalinowski, urged the judge to also reconsider the robbery charges and the conspiracy to commit robbery charges as it was not jalel but the unknown man who tried to steal the video game system, but those charges were also held for trial.
Jalel's formal arraignment is slated for May 17.
Staff writer MICHAEL IORFINO contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, @jkohutTT on Twitter