Man acquitted in Arnold shooting sentenced in separate case

A former New Kensington man acquitted last month in an Arnold shooting was sentenced Thursday to jail and probation terms for spitting on a fellow inmate and two guards in 2018.

Nicholas James Haynes, 24, was sentenced to up to 23 months in the Westmoreland County Prison but given credit for time spent in the jail on the charges since August 2018. He was ordered to serve a consecutive term of three years’ probation.

He pleaded guilty Thursday to a single count of aggravated harassment by a prisoner.

County detectives said in court papers Haynes spit at another inmate while both were in the Hempfield jail on July 7, 2018, and some of the saliva hit two guards. During a disciplinary hearing at the jail, Haynes testified he intended to spit on the inmate, who he described as being racist.

Haynes was acquitted of attempted homicide and related charges April 19 in a shooting on an Arnold street three years earlier that left a man injured. The defense argued that someone else fired three rounds from a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun that left the man seriously wounded April 12, 2018, near Kenneth Avenue.

Haynes told jurors he watched another man shoot the victim.

The wounded man and another eyewitness identified Haynes as the shooter.

Haynes also was acquitted of what prosecutors described as an attempt to threaten and bribe the victim to change his testimony through a letter he gave another inmate to deliver to his accuser while both were in the jail.

Haynes was ordered to get evaluations for mental health and anger management. He is not permitted to use drugs or alcohol during the probation term, according to a sentencing order.