NORTHAMPTON — A city man was ordered detained Wednesday following his arraignment in Northampton District Court on charges of making threats against a Hampshire County prosecutor.

Cody Malone, 28, allegedly made repeated and escalating threats against Assistant District Attorney Matthew Thomas, who is prosecuting Malone in a 4-year-old Hampshire Superior Court case on charges of attempted murder and strangulation.

“In 25 years in the legal system, it’s the first time I’ve been the victim,” Thomas said outside court Tuesday,

Malone is charged with stalking, criminal harassment, intimidation of a prosecutor and threatening to commit murder. He pleaded not guilty before Judge Jacklyn Connly.

At the arraignment, First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne filed motions to revoke Malone’s bail in the Superior Court case and to have him held without bail.

Instead, the court ordered that Malone be returned to Bridgewater State Hospital for a 20-day competency exam. This will mark the fourth time he has been committed to Bridgewater. Each time he has been found not competent to stand trial, but not a danger to himself or to others, and not in need of further hospitalization.

Malone was arrested in August 2020 after he allegedly choked his mother to the point of unconsciousness, landing her in intensive care.

He was released on conditions after being indicted on the charges in November 2020 and has complied with all the court asked of him, according to his mother, Sheryl Malone.

He has also filed motions on his own behalf trying to get his case dismissed. In February, his attorney, Jonah Goldsmith, withdrew from the case and Thomas Glynn was appointed in his stead.

Glynn represented him at Wednesday’s arraignment.

Malone’s parents appeared at a February hearing at which their son was again ordered committed to Bridgewater for evaluation, and loudly objected to the court’s action.

Thomas acknowledged at the time that Malone’s parents want the case dismissed but said prosecutors are not bound in such a case by the victim’s wishes.

Malone’s Superior Court case was scheduled for a status conference Tuesday, but that was pre-empted when he was arrested on Gothic Street as he was preparing to enter the courthouse.

A dangerousness hearing will be held after Malone is released from Bridgewater to determine if he can be released on bail.