AMHERST New Hampshire – The young man accused of breaking into New Hampshire state Rep. Peter Hansen’s Amherst Street home last week has apologized for his actions, telling Hansen in a letter he was high on mushrooms and broke in looking for help because he believed he’d been shot.

Eldon B. Spikes, 20, who has been listing his address as 1 Storybrook Lane but recently told district court officials he’s now homeless, was arrested around 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 4, minutes after Hansen, who heard his cellar door being kicked in, confronted Spikes and held him at gunpoint until police arrived.

Spikes has previously been charged in connection with breaking into homes and motor vehicles in Mont Vernon, Milford and Amherst, but is best known as a former friend of convicted murderer Steven Spader, whom Spikes testified against at Spader’s first-degree murder trial in November.

Spikes is charged with one count each of criminal mischief – vandalism and criminal trespass for last week’s break-in. Both are Class A misdemeanors.

Meanwhile, Amherst police prosecutor Lt. Mark Reams filed, and was granted, a motion to expedite Spikes’ arraignment and revisit the terms of his bail. Under the motion, Spikes is scheduled to appear for arraignment Thursday, a week earlier than the original date of Jan. 20, according to court documents.

Reams’ motion, filed late last week in New Hampshires Milford District Court, also addresses the issue of bail for Spikes, who was freed on $25,000 personal recognizance just hours after his arrest. Reams cited the nature of the crime, concerns for public safety, the fact Spikes is homeless and concerns over his ability to make court appearances as ordered in motioning for the bail review.

Documents don’t state whether Reams would ask the court to increase, or revoke, Spikes’ bail or remove the personal recognizance component.

In the letter, Hansen said, Spikes also stated he’d pay for damages to the door and thanked Hansen for not taking more drastic measures when he found Spikes in his New Hampshire home.

“He said he was high on mushrooms that night, and was looking for help because he thought he’d been shot,” Hansen said. Recalling the incident, Hansen said he does remember Spikes telling him he needed help because he’d just been shot.

But what prompted Hansen to go retrieve his gun, he said, was Spikes’ insistence that at least one other person was with him. “I wasn’t even thinking about getting my gun until he told me that,” Hansen said. “I realized that if there really were others out there, I’d be outnumbered. And that’s not good. That’s what persuaded me to retrieve my gun,” he said.

The Hansens have two grown children. His wife, Patricia, said last week she was upstairs at the time and wasn’t aware of the incident until police arrived.

Police Chief Peter Lyon last week commended Hansen for his handling of the situation, saying he “had every right” under the circumstances to detain Spikes at gunpoint.

Hansen said he’s quite familiar with the handling of weapons, having undergone training during his Vietnam-era stint in the U.S. Navy.

Hansen said the door that Spikes broke through leads to an open part of the basement. Once inside, he said, Spikes came up a set of stairs that leads to the kitchen, where Hansen confronted him.

Although a little wary about the kind of drugs Spikes might have been on, Hansen said his condition, the fact he was unarmed and appeared willing to obey orders to stay put made Hansen feel it was safe to leave him for a minute to retrieve his gun from the basement.

Hansen estimated police arrived roughly three minutes after he called. “Often in these types of situations, one minute seems like an eternity,” he said. “But I’d say, no more than three minutes and they were there. They did a very good job.”

Going forward, Hansen said his biggest hope is that Spikes can get his life in order.

“I don’t hold a lot of animosity toward the kid,” he said. “He’s had a tough life, he’s made some bad decisions and poor choices of friends,” Hansen added, referring to Spikes’ association with convicted murderer Steven Spader and one of Spader’s alleged accomplices, Christopher Gribble, in the Mont Vernon home invasion, assaults and murder.

Gribble is soon to go on trial for his role in the crime.

Referring to Spikes, Hansen said, “I’m giving the kid the benefit of the doubt here. There’s nothing I’d like more than to see him get help.”