Hearing in city home invasion continued
The preliminary hearing for a Washington man accused of being the gunman in a home invasion at a West Hallam Avenue residence was continued Wednesday after it was determined he had not received a complete copy of the criminal complaint filed against him.
Patrick “Raheem” Speer, 43, of 670 Jefferson Ave., faces six counts of reckless endangerment and one count each of robbery, burglary, person not to possess a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license and conspiracy. Speer was identified by city police as the person who fired a shot Feb. 25 inside the home of Dustin Phillips at 69 W. Hallam while his children were in the residence and attempted to rob him.
Testimony had started after District Judge Gary Havelka denied Speer’s request for a continuance to hire an attorney. Speer had applied for a public defender but did not want to be represented by the attorney sent to represent him because of “problems in the past.”
Havelka gave him the option of representing himself or waiving the case to court. Speer reluctantly decided to continue but the testimony was stopped and the case continued when it was determined he did not have both pages of the affidavit of probable cause in the criminal complaint filed against him.
Speer remains in Washington County jail on $100,000 bond.