Inmate wants to represent himself in cellmate’s slaying

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) - An inmate says he wants to represent himself in the slaying of his cellmate in a western Pennsylvania prison earlier this month.

Twenty-five-year-old Dale Wakefield is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and assault by prisoner in the death of 25-year-old Joshua Perry. His preliminary hearing was postponed Thursday following his request.

State police said Perry was found dead Jan. 9 under the bed in his cell in State Correctional Institution-Somerset with his hands tied behind his back and a sheet around his neck.

Perry was serving a 5½- to 11-year term on York County aggravated assault and child endangerment convictions in injuries to a former girlfriend’s toddler.

Wakefield is serving life without parole in the 2013 stabbing death of a homeless veteran near a suburban Philadelphia train station.