A Howard man accused of trying to kill his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend in a 2009 drive-by shooting now faces charges he tried to

influence the jury and alter evidence for a trial that was slated for this week.

The man, Randall Brooks, 38, was charged by state police Thursday with a felony count of aggravated jury tampering and two felony counts of criminal conspiracy. He’s also charged with two misdemeanor counts of criminal solicitation.

Brooks, an inmate in the Centre County Correctional Facility, was scheduled for trial Thursday on charges of attempted criminal homicide, but the trial was postponed earlier this week.

District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said the new charges were part of the reason Brooks’ trial was postponed. She declined to comment on any other reasons.

Parks Miller said the incident might be a first for Centre County court.

“No one can remember a person accused of jury tampering in Centre County history,” she said.

County court administrator Maxine Ishler said a new jury will be seated for the trial, which has not been rescheduled. A pre-trial conference is set for July 21 and jury selection will be Aug. 1.

Brooks is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the jury and evidence tampering charges on Wednesday.

Police say Brooks fired three rounds into a vehicle driven by Matthew Ross as Ross was driving to work on state Route 64 on Dec. 29, 2009. One of the gunshots struck Ross in his upper left shoulder, but he survived.

Police painted Brooks’ action as the result of an obsession with his ex-girlfriend, who’d begun dating Ross. Brooks has been in jail since his arrest in October 2010, but in November 2010 was charged with intimidation of a witness after police said he tried to bribe his former girlfriend with money and called her cellphone 15 times from the county jail after she testified against him.

He was charged again in March with harassment, witness intimidation and stalking after police said he mailed the woman letters from the county jail.

The investigation into the latest charges, filed Wednesday by state police trooper James Ellis, began in the mid-June. Police allege

Brooks asked a fellow county prison inmate who was due to be released to contact a juror who had been selected for Brooks’ trial.

Police said Brooks and the inmate both may have known the juror; Brooks offered the inmate money to contact and try to influence the juror in Brooks’ favor.

Brooks gave the inmate a hand-written note on June 7, listing seven points he wanted to have brought to the juror’s attention.

The note also provided contact information for Brooks’ father, Daniel Brooks, whom the inmate was to call to confirm the juror received the message.

The inmate, however, informed police of the plot. They listened to recordings of Randall Brooks’ calls and visits in jail. In an affidavit, Ellis said they learned that Brooks was trying to reach the inmate-turned-informant to find out if he had reached the juror.

At that point, police decided to have a trooper, posing as the inmate, call Brooks’ father.

During the conversation, the trooper told Daniel Brooks he’d contacted the juror, that the man was sympathetic, and hinted that he might be swayed by money, according to the affidavit. Daniel Brooks said he’d be visiting his son and would discuss it with him, Ellis wrote.

Police observed and recorded the conversation between father and son, during which they communicated both verbally and by showing one another notes.

Police said during that visit they discussed the juror and the plan to persuade him. Randall Brooks told his father to assure the inmate he would “hook him up.”

Police interviewed Daniel Brooks Tuesday, at which time the father said his son had asked him last winter to alter the appearance of the GMC Jimmy that police say was used in the shooting.

Court documents indicate that Brooks’ father did not make the alterations.

Brooks also is alleged to have asked his father to tell police that his son kept handguns between the console and passenger seat of the Jimmy. The father said he understood that this was to provide an explanation for the gun powder residue police found in the vehicle.

Mike Dawson can be reached at 231-4616.