A former inmate of the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon has failed to persuade the Pennsylvania Superior Court that his possession of two homemade weapons while in the prison were essential to protect him from a physical attack or a sexual assault.

Inmate Charles Stevens, 31, a native of Pittsburgh, also sought a reduction of his two- to four-year prison sentence, imposed 13 months ago by Senior Judge Timothy M. Sullivan of Blair County, by arguing the charges against him — possession of an offensive weapon and possession of a weapon of escape — should have merged for sentencing purposes and not been treated as separate crimes.

A Superior Court panel that included Judges Deborah A. Kunselman, Judith F. Olson and Correale Stevens, ruled Stevens failed to show the trial judge (Sullivan) abused his power by rejecting Stevens’ self defense arguments and by refusing to recognize as relevant the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act passed unanimously by Congress, which concluded that hundreds of thousands of inmates throughout the United States are victims of in-prison sexual assault.

The Congressional Act was passed to address sexual assault in prison and the fact that “members of the public and government officials are largely unaware of the epidemic character of prison rape and the day-to-day horror experienced by victimized inmates.”

Sullivan, the defense alleged, refused to instruct the jury on the Stevens’ self-defense claims, noting Stevens was not a victim of sexual assault and the Congressional report was therefore irrelevant.

The panel also ruled that the two offenses charged to Stevens could not merge because they addressed different circumstances.

The illegal possession of an offensive weapon was broader in scope and addressed weapons carried by citizens at large while the charge of possession of a weapon of escape applied only to inmates of specific institutions that include prisons.

State court records show that Stevens was convicted of third-degree murder in the 2014 death of an Allegheny County man.

He received a state sentence of 22.5 to 45 years imposed by Judge Beth A. Lazzara.

On Dec. 19, 2021, while he was an inmate of SCI Huntingdon, corrections officers searched his cell and found a homemade knife under the mattress of his bed.

In searching Stevens, they found a second weapon defined as a “slungshot.”

The Superior Court indicated that a slungshot, as applied in the Stevens case, was a small square metal-

plated motor taken from a fan and attached to a strap.

Stevens’ attorney, Wayne E. Bradburn Jr., of State College argued that Stevens possessed the self-styled weapons to protect himself from assault by other inmates.

Stevens, at 5-feet, 6-inches, was among the smaller inmates at SCI Huntingdon and the weapons, the defense argued, were available to be “used defensively or as a show of force to prevent potential violence.”

Stevens during his jury trial did not take the stand, but he raised the need for such weapons by referring to the Prison Rape Elimination Act that mandates staff training on how to report and how to handle evidence involving prison sexual assault.

The Stevens defense asked the trial judge to read the congressional findings that led to the Rape Elimination Act to the jury.

The Act was based on a conservative estimate that 13% of inmates in American prisons have been the victims of asexual assault and that over a 20-year period the number of victims exceeded one million.

The Superior Court panel concluded that Sullivan did not refuse to take “judicial notice” of the congressional report and did not reject the evidence presented in the report, but stated, “the court refused to admit the congressional findings

on relevance grounds.”

The defense, it was explained, wanted to introduce the report so that Stevens “could infer he was fearful for his safety while in prison,” thereby providing a reason why he possessed the weapons.

Stevens contended the court’s failure to present the congressional report to the jury should result in a retrial.

The Superior Court panel summarized the defense argument, pointing out Stevens “asks us to substitute our judgment for that of the trial court.

“This we may not do,” the appeals court panel stated.

Stevens presently is incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Montgomery County,

His next option is to seek review of his case by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.