HOLLIDAYSBURG — Two Altoona police officers said Thursday that they didn’t promise to direct Owen Southerland’s criminal charges to juvenile court if the teenager helped them find the gun used to kill 15-year-old Devon Pfirsching of Altoona in February 2020.

“I don’t have that authority,” Detective Sgt. Fred Wasser testified in Blair County Court on Thursday.

“It never happened,” Detective Ashley Day said of the allegation.

Southerland, now 17, who faces first-degree murder and related charges in adult court, is contesting the charges for reasons that include a claim of coercive police tactics.

Defense attorney Matthew McGregor is trying to convince Judge Elizabeth Doyle that police got Southerland’s parents to encourage their son to cooperate with the officers, leading him to make incriminating statements in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights.

Wasser and Day denied telling Matthew Jackson that his stepson’s charges could be addressed in juvenile court in exchange for his cooperation.

Jackson, during a court hearing in July and again on Thursday, said the officers offered that promise.

As a result, he encouraged his stepson to cooperate.

“They said if I helped Owen to tell them where the firearm was, then they would make sure he was tried as a juvenile,” Matthew Jackson testified Thursday.

Jackson also stated that District Attorney Pete Weeks was in the doorway of the room at police headquarters when the officers spoke of getting Southerland’s charges directed to juvenile court.

Weeks, during Thursday’s hearing, advised Doyle that he wouldn’t have made or endorsed that offer.

“I never promised anyone an outcome in my career, and I certainly wouldn’t do it in a case like this,” Weeks said.

McGregor recommended that Doyle review the police video recorded during the timeframe when Southerland and his parents were at police headquarters. The defense attorney encouraged her to compare that video with a written transcript of what Matthew and Stacey Jackson reported happening.

From police headquarters, Southerland accompanied officers to an area near the shooting site on the 100 block of Fourth Avenue Alley. That’s where he told police that he tossed the handgun that fired and killed Pfirsching. He also allegedly told officers during the unsuccessful search that he shot Pfirsching.

McGregor advised Doyle that he will submit a legal brief outlining his positions within seven days.

McGregor also said he will be available to participate in a brief hearing later this month allowing him to withdraw as Southerland’s court-appointed attorney. McGregor said he has a new job and must withdraw from the case.

When questioned about the pending change, Southerland said he understood that the judge will be naming a successor.

In response to the brief McGregor is filing within seven days, Weeks and First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith pledged to file responsive briefs by Aug. 27, thereby keeping Southerland’s case on track for trial starting Oct. 18.

Southerland is to be tried with co-defendant Logan Persing, charged with second-degree murder in Pfirsching’s death. Along with a third co-defendant, Damien Green, they are accused of luring Pfirsching to the shooting site after contacting him to buy marijuana.

Criminal charges indicate that the trio planned to rob Pfirsching of marijuana and cash. During the confrontation, Southerland allegedly presented a handgun that led to a scuffle when the gun discharged. Pfirsching died of a single gunshot wound to his head.

McGregor has alleged, through pretrial motions, that the evidence falls short of a first-degree murder charge for lack of intent to kill. Smith said she disagreed based on involvement of a deadly weapon and told Doyle: “That’s a jury question.”

Persing, now 18, represented by attorney Thomas M. Dickey, also has pretrial challenges pending that Doyle will need to address before the case goes to trial.

Dickey has identified what he claims are faults in the procedures police used to secure and search his client’s cellphone that revealed an exchange of text messages setting up the alleged marijuana purchase.

Dickey has also asked the judge to review police video and transcripts for statements Persing made to police that would have been in violation of his constitutional rights.

Both McGregor and Dickey have asked Doyle to consider using an out-of-county jury to hear the charges against their clients in light of pretrial publicity.

Dickey acknowledged that concerns can usually be addressed through questioning during jury selection.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.