Ex-landlord hopes justice is served as man accused of trying to kill him has court appearance

Seeing the man accused of trying to kill him for the first time in months on Monday, Dave Martin had mixed emotions.

Rage was one.

Pity was another.

“I’ve prayed for the guy and I’ve also been very upset with the guy,” he said.

Martin will have at least two more weeks to process those emotions after Monday’s preliminary hearing for James M. Sever, 54, was rescheduled to Oct. 6. Sever was arrested last week after a nearly two-month manhunt on charges that he attempted to kill Martin, his former landlord, with a pipe bomb concealed in a riding lawnmower.

He faces charges of attempted homicide, weapons of mass destruction and related offenses in connection with the July 20 explosion in Salem. The explosion happened at the property from which Sever was evicted in June.

He appeared in district court briefly Monday morning for his attorney to request the preliminary hearing be rescheduled. District Judge Jason Buczak maintained Sever’s denial of bond. He’s being held at the Westmoreland County Prison.

While being led out of court to head back to the jail, Sever declined to comment to reporters.

“Nope, not allowed to talk,” he said.

He looked much thinner than how Martin remembered him.

“Back when he was paying his rent and he had a job, he certainly looked different than he does now, for sure,” he said. “He looks like he hasn’t been taking care of himself.”

State police believe Sever spent nearly two months in the woods evading capture before being spotted Sept. 16 riding a bicycle on the Hoodlebug Trail south of Homer City by an off-duty trooper.

He was evicted in June from Martin’s Route 22 property for failing to pay rent. Martin said there were a few run-ins with him at the property afterwards and their relationship deteriorated. On July 20, he fired up the riding lawnmower to cut the grass at the property when it exploded as he pushed the levers to move it forward.

Troopers determined a bomb had been put inside of it, according to court papers.

That set off weeks of searching by state police and other state and federal agencies in the densely wooded area for Sever.

During that ongoing search, the home from which Sever was evicted was destroyed Aug. 22 by a fire deemed suspicious by investigators. The blaze appeared to have started on the vacant first floor.

Authorities believe Sever may have been involved in a suspicious device that was found Aug. 14 on a ramp to the Pennsylvania Turnpike in North Huntingdon. The item in a wooden box appeared to be a pipe that was capped on both ends, police said.

No charges have been filed in either incident.

While the attempted homicide case works its way through the court system, Martin said he plans to attend hearings despite more than 100 miles of distance between his home near Gettysburg and Westmoreland County.

“I think in the end that my hopes are that justice will be served, and I think that it will,” he said. “I’ve had rental properties for many years but I’ve never … been in this situation in 50 years, never.”