A Pittsburgh man accused of failing to return his 4-month-old daughter to her mother in Erie and fleeing Erie with the child in late July is heading to trial after officials said he failed to appear in court for his preliminary hearing on Wednesday morning.
Officials said Justin J. Jefferson, 31, was at the Erie County Courthouse Wednesday morning prior to the start of his scheduled hearing in Central Court, but left before the case was called before North East District Judge Scott Hammer, who was filling in for Erie 5th Ward District Judge Paul Bizzarro. The hearing was scheduled to start at 10 a.m., but wasn’t called until after 11 a.m. because of other scheduled hearings in Central Court.
Hammer held Jefferson for court on all charges in absentia. A lawyer for Jefferson was not listed on his criminal docket sheet.
Jefferson faces a felony count of endangering the welfare of a child and misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering and terroristic threats that Erie police filed following an incident in the city on July 29. Police accuse Jefferson of taking the child when he was reportedly supposed to drop the child off with the child’s mother, and driving with the child to Pittsburgh.