Suspect in Altoona shooting seeks separate trial from co-defendant
Lindsey wants case severed from that of man who allegedly pulled trigger
Trending
HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A city man accused of participating in an altercation that ended with an individual being shot in the torso is seeking to have his case severed from that of the man who allegedly pulled the trigger.
Jaice Vernon Lindsey, 41, appeared Tuesday morning alongside defense attorney William Wigman for a pre-trial motion hearing in front of President Judge Wade A. Kagarise.
Lindsey is charged with three felony counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, two felony counts of aggravated assault, single felony counts of attempted aggravated assault and attempted homicide, as well as six misdemeanor charges. He is being held at the Blair County Prison on $1 million bail.
Lindsey's co-defendant Garrett Ryan Miles, 41, is facing similar charges and is also being held on $1 million bail.
The charges were brought against the pair in early December 2025 after a physical altercation on the fifth floor of the City Hall Commons left a third man with a gunshot wound to his torso. The victim was taken to UPMC Altoona and transferred to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh for trauma treatment. According to court documents, the bullet entered the victim's left side and was lodged in his spinal column, with severe hemorrhaging in his abdomen.
The victim told police they had been watching college football when an argument broke out, and Miles and Lindsey began physically assaulting him in a "2-on-1" when Miles "went for the gun."
In arguing for Lindsey's and Miles' cases to be severed, Wigman said Miles' involvement in the shooting was "significantly more serious" as he was the one who brought the firearm and allegedly used it.
Wigman told Kagarise that Miles had given authorities "multiple stories" about what happened, at different times saying the shooting was an accident or in self-defense. Wigman said if the pair went to jury trial together, Miles's changing stories would make the jury prejudicial toward Lindsey by association.
"(Lindsey's) right to a fair trial would be affected," Wigman said.
In opposition, assistant district attorney Jonathan Thomas told Kagarise that the prosecution would present the same witnesses in both trials if they were to be severed.
"I don't believe there is a basis for the motion," Thomas said.
Thomas also told Kagarise that he estimated the trial would last three days if the cases remained joined.
Kagarise did not immediately rule on the motion, instead saying he would take their arguments under advisement and issue an order at a later date. He also gave Wigman 14 days to file a written motion for habeas corpus and gave Thomas 21 days to respond to that motion.
Lindsey's next court date has not been set, while Miles is scheduled for a trial list review hearing Aug. 6 in front of Kagarise.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.