Pa. Supreme Court will not hear appeal in Stephen H. Stetler case
Convicted of corruption in 2012, former state Rep. Stephen H. Stetler, D-95th District, has been granted a new trial based on ineffective counsel. (File, York Daily Record)
(Harrisburg) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will not hear an appeal by the state Attorney General’s Office on a lower court ruling that awarded former state Rep. Stephen Stetler, D-York, a new trial on public corruption charges.
The order by the state Supreme Court was issued on Friday.
Stetler was convicted in 2012 of public corruption – using taxpayer funds for campaign purposes – and spent 16 months in prison. Last year, a Dauphin County judge vacated Stetler’s conviction and granted him a new trial on the grounds of ineffective counsel.
In his decision, Judge John Cherry ruled that the trial judge improperly communicated with the jury in the deliberation room after the jury had begun deliberations. Judge Todd A. Hoover had permission from Stetler’s attorney, Joshua Lock, and the prosecution to speak with the jurors. However, the judge offered his own explanation of the alleged crimes, straying beyond an agreement to limit his comments to a clarification of the jury instructions and the criminal charges.
Cherry wrote that it was ineffective counsel on Lock’s part because the agreement did not have specific parameters and guidelines.
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A state Superior Court judge upheld Cherry’s decision earlier this year.
The state Attorney General’s Office asked the state Supreme Court to hear its appeal, arguing that three of the convictions – conflict of interest, theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds – should not have been thrown out.
“There is no legal precedent requiring that all convictions be vacated where there was an erroneous jury charge as to the elements of one or more other offenses,” the petition states. “In fact, quite the opposite is true.”
The state Attorney General’s Office does not have a comment at this time. Stetler and his attorney, John Uhler, could not be reached for comment.
Stetler represented the 95th District, which includes York, West York, Spring Garden Township and part of West Manchester Township, from 1991 to 2006.
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