4 face trial in shooting of student

Four Collingdale residents were held for trial yesterday on charges that they shot an Upper Darby High School student in March and left him for dead.

Magisterial District Judge Christopher Mattox rebuffed their attorneys' requests for bail reductions or a dismissal of some charges.

Police say Breon Jones, 15, shot Leon Harris in the spine during a botched robbery two months ago. Harris, 17, an honor student and youth leader at a West Philly church, remains paralyzed from the chest down, with limited use of his arms.

Jones; his brother Ronald Johnson, 17; sister Latasha Michael, 27; and her boyfriend, Bryan Veney, 19, are scheduled to be arraigned in Media next month on charges ranging from robbery to attempted murder.

The four defendants were driving around Upper Darby on the night of March 26 looking for someone to rob, police say, when they found Harris.

Neither Harris nor any of the accused testified yesterday. Latasha Michael and her brother, Johnson, sat silently holding hands throughout most of the hearing. *