An Atlantic City man charged with four counts of attempted murder while already jailed on a similar charge was denied release Monday.
Superior Court Judge Michael Blee found there was no amount of bail or restrictions that would make it safe to release Devan Leggette.
The 21-year-old man is accused of wounding four people — including a teenager — during a shootout on the Atlantic City Expressway last year.
He was just charged with attempted murder last week, on the same day three of his alleged victims were indicted on gun charges in the same case.
Leggette was already in the Atlantic County Justice Facility, where he has been since December on a separate shooting.
His public safety assessment — new under bail reform — put him at a five out of six for both failure to appear and criminal risk, for a total of 10 out of 12.
His most recent failure to appear, however, was because he was hospitalized in a shooting, said defense attorney Kevin Smith, who clarified to the judge more than once that he was representing Leggette only for this hearing, and not on the pending charges.
Two months after the shootout, Leggette was shot in Pleasantville, suffering gunshot wounds to the chest and right forearm.
In approving Assistant Prosecutor Erik Bergman's motion to detain Leggette, Blee pointed out that the August shootout began with an argument at the courthouse, where two of the men involved had hearings in separate courtrooms.
He also revealed that a witness mentioned in information released by Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner is an off-duty officer. Blee did not say where the officer works, but said that the man heard gunshots while driving east near milepost 11.2, then saw the gunfire between two cars.
He followed one off at Exit 5, and gave investigators a description of the shooter inside the vehicle. He also picked Leggette out of a photo array.
Leggette will be back in court Thursday on the previously pending charges.
