Drug trafficker down to last appeal

Bellon seeks to cut sentence received in 2007 conviction for role in cocaine ring

A former Altoona man who has filed multiple challenges to a lengthy prison sentence he received nearly 17 years ago has seen his possibility of success reduced to one last chance following an adverse ruling Friday by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

Charles Bellon, a Philadelphia-area native, now 44 years old, was arrested in 2002 and charged as one of the leaders of a cocaine trafficking ring that operated in the Altoona area.

The crimes for which he was charged began when he was 17 years old, Bellon claims.

After his arrest, Bellon entered a guilty plea to the many charges but he eventually withdrew the plea and proceeded to a jury trial.

Bellon was convicted of all the charges against him and, in April 2007, Blair County Judge Hiram A. Carpenter imposed a prison sentence of 31 to 62 years.

Since he was sentenced, Bellon has sought to lessen his sentence, with only moderate success.

In 2015, he filed a petition challenging his sentence in the U.S. District Court in Johnstown and Magistrate Judge Keith A. Pesto ruled that a portion of his sentence was illegal.

Pesto determined that Bellon received consecutive sentences of seven to 14 years on multiple counts of possession with intent to deliver controlled substances.

The maximum he could have received on each count under Pennsylvania law was 10 years, Pesto ruled.

The federal magistrate judge vacated Bellon's sentence and gave Blair County 120 days to resentence him.

Bellon has contended that the federal ruling meant he was to receive a resentencing hearing that would give him the opportunity to challenge the totality of his sentence, including mandatory sentences that in 2012 were declared unconstitutional -- but not retroactive -- by the U.S. Supreme Court.

He also sought to argue that the illegal sentences imposed on the possession with intent to deliver charges be made concurrent and not consecutive.

A new sentencing hearing, Bellon contended, would give him the opportunity to plead for a lesser overall sentence.

The judge, instead of holding a new sentencing hearing, simply corrected the errors of his initial sentence on the PWID charges, imposing seven to 10 years instead of the seven to 14 years on each count.

His new sentence was 31 to 46 years behind bars.

Bellon was not present at the resentencing hearing and never had a chance to personally plead for an overall lesser sentence.

He challenged the corrected sentence in Pennsylvania's Superior Court and lost.

He then sought federal review of the case in the Court of Appeals.

It was this challenge that was rejected Friday by appeals court Judges Cheryl Ann Krause, Arianna J. Freeman and Tamika Montgomery-Reeves.

The panel pointed out Bellon was challenging the seven-year mandatory minimum sentence on the PWID charges that is no longer constitutional and the fact the sentencing court did not hold a public resentencing hearing granting Bellon the right to speak.

The 3rd Circuit panel noted the magistrate judge and U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson in Johnstown upheld the state Superior Court's decision rejecting Bellon's protestations.

The appeals court panel in its review of the Bellon case concluded the magistrate judge had ordered the Blair County judge to vacate his initial sentence and to resentence him.

The 3rd Circuit panel then ruled the Blair judge had complied with the District Court order.

It concluded, Bellon "argues in his appellate brief that the January 2020 judgment of sentence is unlawful, both because of the sentence imposed and because of the procedures the court used (or failed to use) before imposing the judgment."

Any new claims Bellon has about his case must now be raised in a new petition, the appeals court ruled Friday.

"We cannot address those claims here," the 3rd Circuit stated.

Bellon has already filed a petition in the federal court in Johnstown seeking an overfall review of his case.

The Habeas Corpus petition has been stayed, awaiting the outcome of the 3rd Circuit review.

Now that the appeals court has completed its review, Bellon's petition with the federal district court will take center stage.

In the petition, he opines his sentence is illegal, and, therefore, "constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment and in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment."

He also claims ineffectiveness of his attorney for not communicating to him a plea offer of seven to 14 years.

Bellon is presently incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution, Somerset.