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Man pleads in assault case

Stehley expected to testify in Ross retrial as part of agreement

HOLLIDAYSBURG — An Altoona man will serve four to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to an aggravated assault charge in which he was accused of twice kicking an unconscious man in the head.

Troy S. Stehley, who is incarcerated at the Cambria County Prison and will be transferred to a state prison, offered the guilty plea Monday before Blair County Judge Wade Kagarise.

In exchange for the recommended prison term followed by five years’ probation, Stehley is expected to cooperate with Blair County prosecutors by testifying in the forthcoming Paul Aaron Ross murder retrial for the 2004 death of Tina S. Miller.

“The plea is better than rolling the dice and going to trial,” Stehley told Kagarise.

Stehley has been facing aggravated assault and related charges since Oct. 28, 2013, when he got into a fight outside the 10th Street Cafe with 47-year-old Keith J. Morrissey. While Morrissey died three weeks after the fight, court documents indicate that Morrissey’s injuries were not the reason for his death. Altoona police, who filed the charges against Stehley, indicate that the fight left Morrissey unconscious and lying on the 1000 block of Seventh Avenue.

In an earlier review of the evidence in support of an aggravated assault charge, Judge Jolene Kopriva reviewed testimony of an off-duty paramedic who allegedly saw Stehley lift Morrissey’s head and punt it like a football, then repeated the action. The paramedic subsequently tended to Morrissey, who was bleeding from his nose and the back of his head.

Stehley also entered a guilty plea on Monday to an unrelated charge of criminal conspiracy to commit contraband. While in the Blair County Prison in April 2015, Stehley was able to secure a cellphone with the help of part-time prison guard Marcus Hepborn, who also was charged and subsequently fired. By providing Stehley with the phone, the pair were able to communicate via text messages about smuggling tobacco into the jail.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.

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