For the third time, the state Superior Court has rejected an appeal of a Lackawanna County man serving a state prison sentence for sexually molesting two boys in 2005 and 2006 in McAdoo.
Clark E. Mead Jr., 33, of Taylor, offered no reason why he should be sentenced again, a three-judge Superior Court panel ruled in a five-page opinion filed Tuesday.
As a result, Mead will remain at State Correctional Institution/Houtzdale in Clearfield County, where he is serving at least 27 1/2 years for his crimes.
After a two-day trial, a Schuylkill County jury convicted Mead on June 5, 2012, of six counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault and two each of corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children.
County President Judge William E. Baldwin, who presided over Mead’s trial, sentenced him on Sept. 27, 2012, to serve 27 1/2 to 55 years in a state correctional institution, pay costs and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities. In addition, Baldwin ruled that under Megan’s Law, Mead is a sexually violent predator and subject to lifetime sanctions once he leaves prison.
McAdoo police had charged him with sexually assaulting the two boys, who were 4 and 5 years old, on multiple occasions between August 2005 and March 2006.
In the panel opinion, Judge Anne E. Lazarus wrote that Mead had one year from the date his conviction became final to file his petition. Since his conviction became final on Sept. 30, 2014, and he did not file his latest petition until Sept. 27, 2016, it is untimely and cannot legally be considered unless it falls under a specific exception to that rule, according to Lazarus.
None of those exceptions applies to Mead’s case, she wrote.
The exception on which Mead attempted to rely, a newly recognized constitutional right to have a jury determine an element of a crime that would mean an increase in his mandatory minimum sentence, does not apply to his case, Lazarus wrote. That right has not been applied retroactively, she wrote.
President Judge Susan Peikes Gantman and Senior Judge William H. Platt, the other panel members, joined in Lazarus’ opinion.
Other Superior Court panels rejected previous appeals by Mead on Dec. 13, 2013, and Aug. 11, 2016.
Contact the writer: pbortner@republicanherald.com; 570-366-9240.
The defendant
· Name: Clark E. Mead Jr.
· Age: 33
· Residence: Taylor
· Crimes committed: Six counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault and two each of corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children
· Prison sentence: 27 1/2 to 55 years in a state correctional institution, plus lifetime Megan’s Law sanctions