A former Huntingdon County man serving a life sentence for a 1985 murder has lost his latest appeal in which he challenged the constitutionality of Pennsylvania
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HOLLIDAYSBURG The former Altoona police sergeant convicted in 2019 on six theft-related felonies wants to appeal his convictions even though he avoided incarceration and was sentenced to five years’ probation.
“Yes, absolutely, I was pleased with the probationary sentence,” Matthew S. Starr testified Wednesday in a Blair County court hearing convened through video transmissions.
His jury trial, however, had “numerous issues that weren’t addressed or addressed like they should have been,” Starr said in explaining his desire to appeal.
Senior Judge Stewart Kurtz of Huntingdon County, who presided over Starr’s trial in February 2019, is reviewing a post-conviction petition filed by Starr’s current attorney, Todd Mosser of Philadelphia, alleging that former trial attorney Robert Donaldson erred by failing to file a timely appeal on Starr’s behalf.