Judge allows Mount Carmel man to pull plea in aggravated assault case
May 9—NORTHUMBERLAND — A Mount Carmel man, originally charged with attempted homicide, will be allowed to withdraw a plea of felony aggravated assault that would have seen him spend up to 90 months in state prison for an alleged stabbing incident that occurred in the borough in January 2022.
Northumberland County Senior Judge Charles Saylor granted a motion to withdraw a plea by Adam Danaher, 47, of North Beech Street, because of a discrepancy with a presentence investigation.
Danaher appeared with his attorney Christian Lovecchio, of Williamsport, where Danaher said he only accepted the plea because it would have bought him time to get the presentence investigation corrected. Danaher also told Saylor he was innocent of the charges and now wanted to go to trial.
The discrepancy deals with a prior records score, which calculates the amount of time a person would have been in trouble and pleaded guilty or convicted of crimes.
Former Northumberland County Assistant District Attorney Robyn Zenzinger, who originally prosecuted the case, asked for a deadly weapon enhancement, which would have added another 18 months onto the sentence, bringing the total to 90 months.
The incident began when police were called to Geisinger-Shamokin Area Community Hospital in January 2022 for a report of a man with stab wounds, police said.
According to a criminal complaint, police spoke with the victim before he was flown to Geisinger in Danville. The victim allegedly told officers he was in Mount Carmel to buy a lottery ticket and beer. The man said he was unfamiliar with Mount Carmel, according to police.
The victim told police he was approached by a man and a fight began, in which the man allegedly told the victim he was "going to die tonight," according to court documents.
The victim allegedly told police he fought off the man and realized he had been stabbed so he drove himself to the hospital, according to police.
Police said the victim had a very large wound on his torso that was closed with nine staples, as well as a stab wound to the mouth.
Officers investigated on Beech Street where they said they discovered a blood trail that led an officer to a home in the 100 block of North Beech Street, police said.
When officers knocked on the door they spoke with a woman who said she knew the victim and he was at the residence earlier, police said. The woman told officers that Danaher got into an argument with the victim and Danaher produced a knife and began stabbing the man, police said.
When the woman told the two men she was calling police, Danaher fled the scene, the woman told police. The woman said the victim then left and drove himself to the hospital, according to a criminal complaint.
Danaher will now be placed on the trial list and the original charge of attempted homicide will be back on the table, according to Northumberland County District Attorney Michael O'Donnell.
"We are weighing our options because the court's decision does not follow the legal precedent," O'Donnell said.
