SCI Phoenix inmate who killed his cellmate assaulted another inmate days earlier, DA says
Forty-eight hours after Nathan Blose strangled his cellmate, prosecutors said, he killed Shaun Harden, another inmate who later shared his cell. Blose will face trial in Harden's death.
An inmate at the State Correctional Institute at Phoenix accused of killing his cellmate last year strangled his previous cellmate just 48 hours before the fatal assault, Montgomery County prosecutors said Tuesday.
Assistant District Attorney Gabriella Glenning revealed the second crime during the preliminary hearing for Nathan Blose, 40, who is charged with murder in the death of Shaun Harden. Harden, investigators say, was found beaten to death in the cell he shared with Blose on Nov. 1.
The full details of the earlier assault were unclear as Glenning sought to file additional charges against Blose, of Coaldale, Schuylkill County, including attempted murder and strangulation, saying the attack was similar to the one in which Harden, 45, was killed and should be part of the same case.
But Blose’s attorney, Joseph Schultz, objected to the addition of new charges, saying the two incidents were unrelated and should be handled separately. District Judge Adam Katzman agreed and told Glenning to file the new case at a later date.
Glenning declined to comment after Tuesday’s hearing, except to say that the second case remains under investigation. A spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections also declined comment, citing the active case.
Meanwhile, Katzman held Blose for trial in Harden’s murder, sending the case to a county judge.
Corrections officers at SCI Phoenix testified that they found Harden, of Nemacolin, Greene County, face down and covered with a bedsheet during an early-morning check of his cell. His skin was gray, and he had blood on his face, with more pooled beneath him, according to evidence presented Tuesday.
Efforts to revive Harden were unsuccessful, and he was later pronounced dead by a prison doctor. An autopsy revealed that Harden had hemorrhages on his neck, chest, and back, and his cause of death was ruled to be “multiple injuries.” A lieutenant at the prison testified Tuesday that Blose did not have those injuries when he arrived at SCI Phoenix.
Surveillance footage reviewed by Pennsylvania State Police detectives showed that no one had entered or exited the cell that Harden and Blose shared after Harden was placed there by guards.
Harden’s injuries seemed to surprise Blose, who exclaimed “Oh my God,” when Schultz showed him photos from the autopsy during the hearing Tuesday.
Schultz said prosecutors could not prove Harden’s killing was premeditated and met the definition of first-degree murder, and he called the case a “garbled mess.”
“There’s no evidence of how it happened, when it happened, the method, or basically anything to fill in the blanks,” Schultz said.
Glenning, the prosecutor, said that the nature of Harden’s injuries proved otherwise.
“Given the amount of strength and force applied to his body,” she said, “for every second, that’s another intent to kill.”
Blose was incarcerated at SCI Phoenix after being convicted of firearms violations in 2020 for bringing a gun to an emergency room and assaulting a police officer who arrived to investigate the incident.
Hours before his death, Harden was transferred to the facility from another state prison while serving a four- to eight-year sentence for indecent aggravated assault of a child, corruption of minors, and related crimes. In 2016, a jury convicted him of molesting an 11-year-old girl and two boys, 11 and 12.
The reasons for Harden’s transfer remained unclear Tuesday.