PORT CARBON — An Ashland area man charged with trying to kill another man in Gordon earlier this year is headed to Schuylkill County Court.
Jamie M. Zulkowski, 38, of 16 Malones Road, appeared for a preliminary hearing Monday morning on charges of attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault, burglary, discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure, terroristic threats, possessing instruments of crime, recklessly endangering another person and simple assault.
Prosecutors withdrew a charge of discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure and after hearing more than two hours of testimony during a preliminary hearing Monday Magisterial District Judge David A. Plachko ordered the remaining offenses held for county court.
Butler Township police Lt. Daniel Holderman charged Zulkowski with assaulting and trying to shoot Joseph M. Monaghan about 2:40 p.m. Jan. 12 at the man’s 515 McKnight St. home.
Monaghan said he was in the bathroom when he heard someone banging on a door and then found Zulkowski inside his home.
“It sounded like King Kong at the (side) door,” Monaghan told the court.
He testified that he drew a .22-caliber revolver he had after an enraged Zulkowski came to the bottom of a set of steps and began to approach him.
As the two men eventually made it to a room on the first floor of the home, Monaghan said a struggle ensued with Zulkowski taking the weapon from him.
At that point, Monaghan said, he began to run back up the stairs, while Zulkowski was chasing him and shooting the weapon.
After running through the house, Monaghan said, Zulkowski eventually caught him in the kitchen where he assaulted him by kicking, hitting and stomping on the man, all the time threatening to kill him.
While he was on the ground, Monaghan said, Zulkowski fired two shots at him before the assault stopped when someone knocked at another door of the home.
Zulkowski’s attorney, Joseph Nahas, Frackville, asked Monaghan why he had a weapon on his person at the time Zulkowski entered the home.
Monaghan said he received threatening text messages from Zulkowski and that he feared for his life. However, during additional questioning by Nahas, Monaghan said the messages did not specifically contain threatening language and the threats were written in “code.”
Nahas also questioned Monaghan as to why he was not shot by Zulkowski, who he said fired the gun at him two times at close range while he was on the ground.
After Zulkowski left the home, Monaghan told Nahas, he did not immediately call police but instead retrieved a shotgun and went looking for Zulkowski to “talk to him.”
Holderman testified that after the assault he found Monaghan not at his house but outside of a tavern in the borough.
The lieutenant said the man had no shoes on and was bleeding from his lip and appeared to have scratches and abrasions on his head and hands.
Under examination by first assistant district attorney John Fegley, Holderman said investigators found two bullet holes in the home, one near a stairway and one in another room.
When asked by Nahas, Holderman said neither Butler Township officers nor a state police forensic expert found signs that shots were fired in the room of the home where Monaghan said he was shot at twice at close range.
“We could not find any bullet holes in the room where the alleged assault took place,” Holderman said.
Although Monaghan said that a total of six shots were fired by Zulkowski during the incident, Holderman said police only found evidence of two shots fired.
During cross examination by Nahas, the lieutenant said the revolver owned by Monaghan and used by Zulkowski had not been found.
In closing, Nahas told the court that the commonwealth failed to prove a prima facie case since there was not premeditation to support the attempted homicide charge, theft cannot be proved since the alleged weapon is missing and that the injuries suffered by Monaghan are not considered “serious” bodily injuries needed for the aggravated assault charge.
He said that since Zulkowski often went to the home and entered on his own with permission on prior occasions, burglary should not be considered since he entered the same way he did in the past.
Fegley countered by saying Zulkowski firing the gun at Monaghan shows an intent to kill him and that witness accounts of Zulkowski banging loudly on a door of the home indicates he knew he was not allowed to enter thus proving the burglary charge.
Plachko agreed with the theory of the prosecution and ordered the charges held for court. After the hearing, Zulkowski was returned to Schuylkill County Prison where he is being held in lieu of $750,000 bail set at the time of his arrest.