Sep 7, 2017 By The 2 min read

A Belle Vernon man who pleaded guilty to a baseball bat assault will be able to continue to go to college while he serves his Westmoreland County prison sentence.

However, a judge denied a request for Jacob Leyda, 19, to have the hours of his release extended so he can study outside of the lockup.

Leyda was in court Thursday because he’d twice detoured to his home on the way from prison to school.

The stops were to change out of his prison clothes and into regular clothes, officials said, but were not approved.

Judge Christopher A. Feliciani told Leyda to leave clothing in his provided prison locker, and Leyda’s mom, who was in court, said she would bring clothes to the jail.

The jurist denied a request from Leyda’s attorney to extend his release time, asking why Leyda couldn’t study while he served his 10- to 23-month sentence in the Rostraver Township assault.

When Leyda said he couldn’t bring the books into the lockup because some had metal spiral bindings, Feliciani told him to take responsibility for the situation and look for a way to study and comply with prison rules.

“Figure out a way that your book doesn’t have spirals on it,” Feliciani said, suggesting he copy relevant pages. “I want you to do well in school, but you also have to be accountable for what you did.”

Leyda was charged after assaulting someone with a bat on Dec. 29, 2015. In April, prosecutors dropped aggravated assault charges, and Leyda pleaded guilty to simple assault.

He was court-ordered to anger management and started serving his sentence in July.