Erie At Large: The Stakes Remain High in Local Elections eriereader.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eriereader.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Teen who shot 3 people at Pa. shopping mall wasn’t sentenced too severely, appeals court says
Updated 1:29 PM;
A 15- to 30-year prison sentence imposed on a 17-year-old boy who shot three people during a rampage at a Pennsylvania shopping mall was upheld by a state appeals court panel Thursday despite the gunman’s claim that his mental health problems weren’t adequately considered.
An Allegheny County judge did consider Tarod Thornhill’s psychiatric issues, but simply didn’t give them the weight Thornhill desired, Judge Maria McLaughlin found in the Superior Court’s opinion.
Thornhill committed the shooting spree inside the Macy’s store in the Monroeville Mall in February 2015. He shot one man three times and wounded another couple who were in the store with their young child.
Driver who led cops on 120-mph chase with a baby in his car gets no break from Pa. court
Updated Feb 18, 2021;
A driver who had a baby in his car when he led police on a 120-mph chase on a busy central Pennsylvania highway must stay parked in prison, a state Superior Court panel has decided.
In an opinion by Judge Maria McLaughlin, the state judges rejected Ronald D. Comeger’s claim that his lawyer was ineffective.
Comeger was sentenced to 9 ½ to 19 years in prison after a Lancaster County jury convicted him charges, including aggravated assault of a child.
Ronald Comeger
Harrisburg man barred from withdrawing guilty plea in fatal ambush robbery
Updated Dec 24, 2020;
A Harrisburg man who committed a fatal ambush robbery in league with two teens cannot withdraw the guilty plea that netted him a life prison sentence, a state Superior Court panel has decided.
Demetrius Aquino was 18 in August 2017 when police said he shot and killed Dion Walker during the holdup in Swatara Township. The guilty plea he entered nearly two years later to second-degree murder surprised prosecutors.
Demetrius Aquino
On appeal, Aquino, now 22, claimed Dauphin County Judge Richard A. Lewis should have allowed him to withdraw that plea, even after he admitted to shooting Walker with a .45 caliber pistol and received his life prison term.
Central Pa. man accused of paying teen boy to torture him as sex play loses appeal of prison sentence
Updated Dec 17, 2020;
A central Pennsylvania man who was charged with paying a teenage boy to physically torture him for sexual pleasure failed Thursday to convince a state appeals court that he got a raw deal from his lawyer, a judge and the prosecutors of his case.
The Superior Court’s denial of the appeal by Donald Rhinehart III means Rhinehart will keep serving a 3- to 8-year prison term on his no contest pleas to charges of witness intimidation and corruption of minors.