Monessen man ordered to trial
MONESSEN – A Monessen man faces an additional charge of attempted homicide in a case in which he is accused of hitting a Monongahela woman in the head last week with the blunt end of a hatchet.
The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office amended the criminal complaint to add the charge against Lamont Jackson, 56, at the start of his preliminary hearing Friday before District Judge Joseph Dalfonso.
The victim, Jillian Brown, 31, of Monongahela, testified at the hearing that the assault left her with a severe concussion that requires treatment at a concussion center in Pittsburgh.
Her testimony was enough to lead Dalfonso to forward all of the charges against Jackson to Westmoreland County Court.
Brown said she had been at Jackson’s residence at 511 Second St. for a few days and left because she and Jackson argued after watching a Dec. 27 Steelers game on television. She called him later and asked to return for her purse she left behind.
Brown said she was sitting on his couch shortly after 11 p.m. when he left he room, saying he had something for her. “The next thing I knew he was assaulting me with a hatchet,” Brown said.
She said she put up her left arm to defend herself and sustained a cut on her hand.
The second blow struck her on her upper left forehead at the hairline, she said.
“I ran out the door screaming and crying,” Brown said. “He said, ‘You better not tell anybody or call the police.'”
Monessen police said she ran around the corner to Del Rosa’s Pizza, bleeding and losing consciousness.
She was flown by helicopter to UPMC-Presbyterian in Pittsburgh.
Jackson was arrested the next day when police found him at Maple Avenue and 14th Street, and he also was wanted at the time on a bench warrant in a drug case in Westmoreland.
Jackson’s public defender, Alan Manderino, asked Dalfonso to withdraw the attempted homicide charge in the case because Jackson stopped the attack on his own.
Assistant District Attorney Wayne Gongaware said the use of a hatchet was enough to show Jackson’s intentions.
Gongaware declined to comment on the specifics of what Brown and Jackson were arguing about the day of the attack.
Jackson also is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, harassment and possession of drug paraphernalia. He remains in Westmoreland County Jail on $100,000 bond.