Transient who wielded a hatchet and threatened a man is charged

A 42-year-old transient who was convicted of murder nearly two decades ago was charged Friday with threatening someone with a hatchet at McCambridge Park in Burbank, officials said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Leo Jason Cox yelled and cursed at the victim, a 54-year-old man who’d just gotten out of his car near the park, while holding a hatchet over his head, according to Burbank police and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

After a verbal exchange, Cox walked away. The victim, also a transient, told police that he and the suspect don’t know each other and hadn’t had an altercation, said Burbank Police Sgt. Claudio Losacco.

With the help of the police helicopter, officers found Cox by a nearby Carl’s Jr., where they ordered him to drop the hatchet before taking him into custody.

Cox, who has a history of violence, was charged Friday with one count of assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors are requesting that he be held in lieu of $1 million bail.

In 1998, Cox was convicted of murder in Gainesville, Fla., and in 2014, he was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Dallas.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.

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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek