Bingaman

A former Bedford County public defender convicted in 2008 of sexual offenses against a young girl has lost his challenge to a decision by the Pennsylvania Parole Board to rescind his parole after learning that while he was incarcerated he wrote and published two books “containing sexually explicit material involving minors.”

According to an opinion issued this week by the Commonwealth Court, the ex-public defender, Bradley Scott Bingaman, 50, dedicated one of his books to his victim, who was subject to his abuse beginning at age 7 and ending at age 11.

He named his victim in the book, which was published through Amazon’s direct publishing service in December 2023.

The books encompassed about 500 pages and were written while Bingaman was serving a prison sentence of 14-28 years that was imposed on June 2, 2008, by Bedford County Judge Thomas S. Ling.

Bingaman was granted parole on Oct. 31, 2022, but at the time, the Parole Board had no knowledge of his writings.

Parole authorities became aware of the books when a prison mailroom employee noted that copies of the two publications were mailed to another inmate of the prison.

An agent assigned to the Parole Board reviewed the books and made a visit to Bingaman’s home to confirm he had written the books while in confinement.

Upon conclusion of the investigation, the board decided to rescind Bingaman’s parole.

It stated that Bingaman in one of his books named the victim.

“Upon your admission, you depicted the details of your instant offense within your writings and even wrote from what you believed to be your victim’s perspective. … The particulars of your books clearly illustrate your incessant sexual fixation towards minors and your victim, clearly demonstrating that you did not benefit from the therapeutic support provided by the Department of Corrections staff,” the board stated.

“In doing so, you left the Parole Board’s decision to grant your release to parole supervision taintedly uninformed thus giving good cause to rescind your parole supervision.”

In response, Bingaman explained that he wrote the books while in prison, between 2007-18, which was prior to entry into a DOC treatment program in 2019.

He related that he successfully completed treatment and that he participated in another, shorter program.

The books, he explained, “were a first step in the therapeutic process because he took the viewpoint of different characters throughout and got a different perspective on the offenses.”

The process, he indicated, was to learn more about himself and how he impacted others.

He also claimed his books constituted free speech, which is protected by the First Amendment.

The Parole Board rescinded his parole because his books depicted the sexual abuse of minors, and because he used the name of the victim.

Also, it noted that the board was not aware of his books at the time it granted him parole supervision.

Bingaman filed an appeal to the rescission of his parole and a Commonwealth Court panel that included Judges Patricia A. McCullough, Stacy Wallace and Mary Hannah Leavitt this week upheld the decision to recommit Bingaman.

According to the appeals court record, Bingaman is presently incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution in Fayette County.

He served as his own attorney during his appeal.

In the opinion written by McCullough, it was explained that the Parole Board decision should not be viewed in the “ordinary sense.”

A person on parole is still serving his sentence, and the opinion noted parole is to provide supervision while still protecting the public.

“When parole is granted, it is nothing more than a favor granted upon a prisoner by the state as a matter of grace and mercy shown by the Commonwealth to a convict who has demonstrated a probability of his ability to function as a law abiding citizen in society,” the opinion stated.

It explained that Bingaman’s writing of two books containing graphic descriptions of sexual offenses he committed “demonstrates his fixation with minor children and the particular child in this case.”

He not only published his books, thus making them available to the general public, he also ordered two sets of the books for himself and for a fellow inmate, it was pointed out.

These acts indicate Bingaman has not been “fully reformed,” and that “releasing him to an open community would not be in the best interest of the public,” the Commonwealth Court concluded.

As to his contention that his free speech rights have been violated, the opinion stated the Parole Board was not placing restrictions on speech.

The appeals court quoted from a prior opinion in which it was noted, “just because one has a constitutional right (such as the right to free speech), does not mean that no adverse consequences can flow from exercising such a right.”

The appeals court concluded that the Parole Board properly considered Bingaman’s writings depicting graphic sexual offenses against minors and his child victim in assessing whether parole was warranted.

Bingaman’s sentence will not be completed until 2036.

His sentence included: seven to 14 years for rape of child, six to 12 years for criminal attempt at rape of a child; one to two years for possession of child pornography (images found on his computer), followed by more than 10 years of probation.