By Rich Cholodofsky
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. — A former Westmoreland County Prison inmate was convicted Wednesday of assaulting a guard during a melee last year.
After nearly five hours of deliberations, a Westmoreland County jury found Derrick Cobbs, 34, of Jeannette guilty of two felony counts of aggravated assault but acquitted him of a more serious charge of attempted murder.
Prosecutors said that shortly after 5 p.m. on May 4, Cobbs grabbed guard Richard Planey and put him in a choke hold for eight seconds.
The incident occurred as Cobbs was being held at the jail awaiting trial on rape and drug charges. Cobbs had returned to the jail several months earlier. He was inadvertently released from the lockup following a mistrial in 2010 on the rape case and had fled to Florida.
During the three-day trial this week, jurors viewed three videos, each no more than two minutes, that showed Cobbs sitting at a table eating dinner when he became upset over the quality of the meal.
Assistant District Attorney Kelly Hammers said Cobbs complained that green beans and pasta had become co-mingled on his tray, prompting him to demand a new meal.
Guards ordered Cobbs to either eat or clean up. Cobbs refused and became violent, guards contended.
Planey contended he was choked and nearly lost consciousness during the fight, according to court records.
The videos showed Cobbs quickly surrounded by as many as nine guards who eventually subdued him and pushed him to the ground.
The jury reviewed the videos at least twice during its deliberations yesterday.
Defense attorney Brian Aston said Cobbs never intended to harm Planey and that his client did not initiate the fight.
As a result of the conviction, Cobbs faces a minimum sentence of six years in prison, Hammers said. Cobbs will be formally sentenced in about three months by Judge Al Bell.
Bell yesterday signed a court order that prohibits Cobbs from being housed in the Westmoreland County Prison, and directed that he be held at the Washington County Jail.
Cobbs still has cases pending on drug and rape charges..
During the aborted trial in October 2010, his 23-year-old accuser told jurors that she was raped and repeatedly beaten, punched, choked and abused on Oct. 11, 2009. Cobb then held the woman in his home for more than a week against her will, she testified.
The woman testified that she thought Cobbs would kill her before she managed to escape through an unguarded back door.
Judge Debra Pezze granted a mistrial after a witness testified that she had been threatened by a friend of Cobbs before the case went to court.
Following the mistrial, Cobbs was inadvertently released from the county jail. He was apprehended about three weeks later in Florida.
Republished with permission from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review