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The Pennsylvania Superior Court has rejected a petition by a former Altoona man who is serving a prison term of 15 to 30 years for the sexual abuse of several children.
Gary D. Stehley Jr., 43, argued that he was entitled to a new trial because his attorney failed to prepare him to testify on his own behalf and also failed to call character witnesses that could have testified to his good reputation.
Superior Court Judges Jack A. Panella, John T. Bender and Dan Pelligrini rejected Stehley's petition and late last week upheld Stehley's conviction and lengthy prison sentence.
In rejecting Stehley's petition, the appeals court judges agreed with now retired Blair County Judge Daniel J. Milliron's determination that while Stehley initially wanted to testify, he later went along with his attorney's assessment that his testimony would hurt rather than help his case.
Stehley's trial attorney, Matthew Gieg of Altoona, stated during a post-conviction hearing before Milliron that his client wanted to veer "into areas that concerned me."
Stehley, he testified, was "hellbent" on accusing the grandmother of "brainwashing" the children -- to accuse Stehley of crimes he had not committed.
The trial attorney concluded that Stehley's testimony against the grandmother would have exposed him to cross-examination concerning other offenses unrelated to charges before the jury.
Gieg testified that Stehley's proposed testimony against the grandmother would have been "catastrophic" to the defense case.
Stehley eventually agreed with Gieg and decided not to take the stand in his own defense.
Milliron ruled that Gieg was not "ineffective" in advising Stehley to stay off the witness stand.
In his opinion, the Blair judge agreed that Stehley's testimony would have prejudiced his case.
The Superior Court panel ruled that ultimately Stehley made the decision not to testify.
The panel stated that Gieg "had a reasonable basis for advising (Stehley) not to testify."
It also quoted Milliron's opinion in which he pointed out the trial attorney had regular client meetings with Stehley to review the case, including a discussion about the presentation of character witnesses.
Stehley had a list of people he wanted to call to attest to his good character and reputation.
But both Milliron and the Superior Court panel reported that the named witnesses refused to testify.
None of the potential witnesses appeared at Stehley's post-conviction hearing or provided affidavits outlining what their testimony would have been.
Milliron concluded that, based on those circumstances, "It is impossible to find attorney Gieg ineffective for failing to call them to testify at trial."
The appeals court panel stated it found no error in Milliron's decision that Gieg had provided effective representation of Stehley throughout the trial process.
Stehley, a former employee of the Altoona Area School District maintenance department, was convicted in 2015 on two counts each of rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and indecent assault, and one count of corruption of minors.
The grandmother of the children stated after the verdict was returned, "Thank God he got what he deserved, because the children will never forget."
Stehley remains incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution in Fayette County.
He was represented in his present appeal by attorney Scott N. Pletcher of State College.