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By Phil Ray
pray@altoonna mirror.com
An Altoona man, who continued to fight drug charges filed against him in 2010 even though he had already completed his prison sentence, has now lost his appeal before the Pennsylvania Superior Court.
Shawn Edward Gibson, who appeared before Blair County Judge Daniel J. Milliron last year concerning his release on bail from the State Correctional Institution at Pine Grove, said he was continuing with his appeal before the Superior Court because, "I want to clear my name."
He maintained that he shouldn't have been arrested in the first place.
Milliron had already indicated that Gibson was entitled to be resentenced on his charges based on a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, known as the Alleyne case, that found Pennsylvania's mandatory sentencing laws unconstitutional.
Gibson in a post-conviction petition challenged his five-to-10-year prison sentence and argued his trial attorney, Joel Peppetti, should have filed a motion to suppress drugs found in Gibson's residence in July 2009 and that Peppetti should have called an alibi witness who allegedly would have testified Gibson was not present when a drug dealer had entered his home.
Investigators found bags of cocaine in the trap of a toilet in Gibson's residence but Gibson denied that they belonged to him and maintained that the drugs could have been placed there by visitors to the home.
A Blair County jury convicted Gibson of possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession of the cocaine, tampering with evidence, possession of drug paraphernalia and conspiracy.