Inmate receives 5 to 10 years for assault of Fayette prison guard

A prisoner serving an attempted homicide sentence from a 1999 shooting in Monessen has been sentenced to serve 5 to 10 years for assaulting a prison guard in Fayette County.
Lanyere Ayers Rockamore, 46, was sentenced Thursday before Fayette County Judge Steve Leskinen following a nonjury trial last month in which Leskinen found Rockamore guilty on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, disorderly conduct and engaging in fighting and harassment.
On Jan. 14, 2017, Rockamore gave a corrections officer at the State Correctional Institution at Fayette in Luzerne Township a concussion when he shoved the guard into the stairs and repeatedly hit him, according to court records. Police said the guard stopped Rockamore after he saw him pass something to another inmate under a cell.
Rockamore’s attorney, Almon Stith Burke Jr., contended the incident between Rockamore and the guard was a misunderstanding. He said the guard believed Rockamore was giving another inmate contraband, but it was tobacco.
Assistant District Attorney Wendy O’Brien argued that the guard received serious injuries including a concussion, herniated discs and an eye injury from the assault. Meanwhile, Rockamore had no injuries, had to be taken down by other guards with pepper spray and did not comply with the guards’ orders.
“If this was a misunderstanding, why act in this way?” O’Brien asked.
Leskinen said from the video evidence of the incident, it didn’t appear the assault was planned. He noted Rockamore did not appear to resist once he was contained, but Leskinen said the guard’s injuries were serious.
Burke argued Rockamore had no reason to assault the guard because he was approaching his 20 years and was soon going to be eligible for parole. Following the assault, the parole board delayed his eligibility for release for two years, Burke said.
In sentencing Rockamore, Leskinen said he was trying to balance the fact that Rockamore had no other infractions in his 20 years of incarceration with the seriousness of the guard’s injuries.
Rockamore is serving a 20-to-40-year prison term for attempted homicide, after he shot Brad Jones, then 21, in the neck in Monessen, Westmoreland County in 1999. Jones was a freshman linebacker for Penn State at the time.
Police said Rockamore shot Jones with a .357 magnum when Jones rolled down the window of his car after leaving a club in Monessen. The bullet ricocheted off Jones’ spine and lodged in his chest.
Jones, a Monessen native, was a fullback at Monessen High School and led the team to a state championship game in 1995, according to news reports from the time of the shooting.
The sentence will run concurrently with Rockamore’s sentence out of Westmoreland County.