HOLLIDAYSBURG — The defense attorney for the man accused of escaping in December from the Blair County Prison and fleeing to Philadelphia is seeking to have his escape-related charges separated from drug-trafficking charges before his jury trial starts Monday.

On behalf of Isaiah R. Tilghman, 34, defense attorney Kristen Anastasi is asking Judge Jackie Bernard to separate the cases because they don’t involve the same witnesses and were filed seven months apart.

Anastasi also claims that her client’s drug-trafficking charges will be prejudicial to the escape case, because if tried together, the jury will learn that he was in jail because of drug-trafficking charges.

“The escape case shows only that he did not want to be in jail, not consciousness of guilt of the drug case,” she stated in a pre-trial request.

District Attorney Pete Weeks, who has been lining up witnesses for what’s expected to be Tilghman’s five-day trial, previously filed notices to join Tilghman’s cases and until Monday, no challenges were offered to the consolidation.

In addition to escape and drug trafficking, the defendant is also charged with stealing a truck in Lakemont after his alleged escape from the prison.

Bernard, in court Monday, referenced the timing of the request and the mid-August jury selection process where the cases were described.

The judge also scheduled a hearing on Wednesday and told attorneys to be ready with oral arguments and legal rulings in support of their positions.

The judge also recognized Anastasi’s related request for a pre-trial order suppressing references to drugs and cash removed from a black trash bag. In her petition, Anastasi took the position that because police believed the bag belonged to Tilghman, the hotel employees in possession of the bag had no authority to consent when police asked if they could search the bag.

While Weeks referred to the suppression request as untimely, Bernard said it could be considered on Wednesday as well.

Tilghman’s charges date back to May 2023, when police went to the Altoona Grand Hotel, where Tilghman was supposed to be staying. While police didn’t find him there, they learned that Tilghman had provided a black trash bag to motel employees with plans to retrieve it.

Weeks said Monday that the bag contained significant amounts of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine, with a street value of up to $250,000. That finding also prompted police, he said, to set up arrangements leading to Tilghman’s arrest in Altoona and his incarceration in the county prison.

Seven months later, Tilghman was accused of climbing into a prison ventilation shaft that allowed him to access the roof and flee. He was subsequently accused of stealing a truck in Lakemont that was found abandoned in the Philadelphia area where federal marshals arrested Tilghman in March.

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