SUNBURY - A Northumberland County judge Wednesday granted house arrest to a 15-year-old boy charged with attempted homicide.
Gage Hertzog, was 14 Dec. 9 when police allege he and his grandmother, Carol Whary, shot at Whary's stepson and neighbor, Dean Whary, in the field behind the two Wharys' adjacent houses.
Hertzog will be permitted to reside with his parents, David and Carol Hertzog, of Atlas, Judge William H. Wiest ruled.
As part of his order, Wiest stipulated Hertzog must wear an electronic monitoring device and is not permitted to have contact with either Whary or visit the location of the alleged incident.
Hertzog, who was enrolled in cyber school at the time of the incident, will also have to enroll at Mount Carmel Area Junior/Senior High School and attend each school day.
The ruling comes after two attempts by the Hertzog family to have their son released from juvenile detention, where he has been held since the alleged shooting. Prosecutor Julia Skinner argued at a hearing Tuesday he should continue to be held due to the serious nature of his charges and because his older sister is still in contact with his grandmother.
Skinner had previously argued the deplorable conditions his parents had allow him to live in at his grandmother's house meant Hertzog would be best kept in the juvenile detention facility where he was safe and receiving an education. State police testified garbage blocked the upstairs of Carol Whary's home, the two had been sleeping on couches in the living room and at least one dead animal was found in the basement.
But defense attorney Kathleen Lincoln pointed to testimony by Children and Youth Services representatives, who said they visited the Hertzog home and saw it is clean and fit to live in.
Lincoln was concerned after she was notified that physical evidence from the alleged incident would not be available for six to nine months. This meant Gage Hertzog could be held in a juvenile detention facility for more than a year before he was determined to be guilty or innocent of his charges.
Wiest took a day to consider the situation before making his decision.
It wasn't known Wednesday if Hertzog had been released.