An Altoona man who contended the Blair County District Attorney’s Office unfairly backed out of a plea bargain has lost his attempt to have the deal reinstated, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled Monday.

Davon Lamar Smith, 35, argued in his petition to the state appeals court that in 2014 he entered into a plea bargain in which he agreed to waive his preliminary hearings involving three separate cases in exchange for a prison sentence of 3.5 to 5 years.

The cases included possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and two drug offenses.

He stated in his appeal that he carried out his side of the bargain, but the prosecution withdrew the plea agreement because Smith was eventually charged with yet another crime stemming from an assault at a local bar.

Smith went to trial on the gun charge and was convicted.

He was then sentenced to a term in a state correctional institution of 5.5 to 11 years — the sentence included all three offenses.

In 2017, Smith filed a post-conviction petition seeking reconsideration of his sentence due to ineffectiveness of his trial lawyer, who he said should have sought enforcement of the original plea deal.

The Superior Court summed up Smith’s side of the argument, noting he “asserts trial counsel was ineffective for failing to seek enforcement of the original plea deal … that since he gave up his right to a preliminary hearing, trial counsel should have sought specific performance of the plea agreement.”

The Superior Court opinion written by President Judge Jack A. Panella cited Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure concerning plea agreements.

“This rule has been interpreted by our Supreme Court to mean that no plea agreement exists unless and until it is presented to the court.

“Here, the original plea agreement had neither been entered on record nor accepted by the trial court prior to revocation and was, therefore, not enforceable.”

“The Commonwealth withdrew the plea offer in good faith for legitimate reasons; specifically, the fact Smith was charged with a fourth offense,” the court said.

Smith is in the SCI Fayette.

As to the disposition of the “fourth offense” that led to the nullification of the plea agreement, state court records show that Blair County President Judge Elizabeth A Doyle on Sept. 14, 2015, sentenced Smith to a term of 10 to 20 years behind bars.

He is still awaiting a post-trial appeal hearing in that case, according to the state records.