Montco jury convicts SCI Phoenix inmate of assault in attack on cellmate
Nathan Blose was convicted of attacking Jason Joyce two days before prosecutors say he killed his next cellmate at the state prison.
A Montgomery County jury delivered a split verdict Wednesday against a state prison inmate accused of strangling his cellmate.
The jurors ruled that Nathan Blose, 41, attacked Jason Joyce inside the cell they shared at the State Correctional Institution Phoenix in October and convicted him of simple assault.
But they found him not guilty of strangulation, ruling that prosecutors had failed to prove he had used a headlock to intentionally cut off Joyce’s oxygen supply.
During a trial this week before Montgomery County Court Judge Thomas Del Ricci, prosecutors were not permitted to reveal to jurors that Blose has an alleged pattern of attacking his cellmates: Just two days after Joyce was transferred to a new cell, prosecutors say, Blose beat his next cellmate, Shaun Harden, to death.
DelRicci ordered a separate trial for the murder charges Blose faces in connection with that incident. It is scheduled for later this year.
Assistant District Attorney Gabrielle Glenning argued during Blose’s two-day trial that he had attacked Joyce in an unprovoked, violent assault while Joyce’s back was to him.
Blose’s attorneys, Joseph Schultz and Scott Frame, disputed that, saying the two men had a fight, and Joyce lost.
Schultz also noted that Joyce, who was in SCI Phoenix for violating his probation in a Philadelphia drug case, would have had an incentive to exaggerate the attack to avoid being punished for fighting in prison.
From the witness stand, Joyce, 53, described the incident, saying Blose placed him in a headlock while he was filling out paperwork. He had no issues with Blose, he said, and the two had gotten along fine in the brief time they had known each other after being housed together 36 hours earlier.
Blose’s grip was so tight, Joyce said, that he briefly lost consciousness and woke up to find Blose choking him on the floor of their cell. Joyce said he was able to pry Blose’s arm away from his neck long enough to plead for his life and beg him to stop.
Joyce then reported the attack to a guard and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of burst blood vessels in his eyes and abrasions on his neck.
Blose will be sentenced in the attack on Joyce after the conclusion of his murder trial.