Daniel L. Evans, the suspect implicated in a Somers home invasion that left an elderly couple seriously injured in late October, entered not guilty pleas.
Evans, 52, has been charged with 23 felonies, including two counts of attempted first-degree homicide.
The date for Evans’ pretrial hearing has been set for March 12.
According to the criminal complaint filed against him, Evans was looking for a house to break into on Oct. 27, the night of the home invasion. He told detectives he was “checking doors” and settled on the elderly couple’s home in the 3700 block of 18th Street because he felt the house was hard to see from the street.
Evans told detectives he had entered the house by breaking a lock, but once inside had knocked over something, possibly a picture frame, and it fell to the floor.
The 84-year-old man who lived in the house said he was awoken by the sound of breaking glass. “He stated that he thought a picture had fallen off the wall so he went to investigate,” the complaint states.
The elderly man said he walked down the hall “when a man appeared and hit him in the head with something.” The elderly man said he struggled with the person for a short time, but was struck in the head.
At the house on 18th Street, police found the man’s 83-year-old wife lying on the floor near a bed. She had a large lump and laceration on her head and, while she was conscious, she was not sure what had happened to her. At the hospital, doctors learned she had a skull fracture.
When the 84-year-old man was examined at the hospital, doctors realized he had been shot twice in his back and that he, too, had a fractured skull. He did not remember being shot.
Police were led to Evans by the couple’s cellphones, which were stolen during the home invasion.
In serving a search warrant on the mobile home where Evans was living, investigators found evidence linking him to the Somers home invasion and to two other burglaries.
Evans is being held on $1 million bond.
District Attorney Michael Graveley, in requesting such a high bond, said Evans has a long criminal history that includes 28 past convictions for crimes including burglary, home invasion and battery of an elderly person prior to his most recent conviction in 1999. He had been in prison from 1999 until his release in February 2017.