Pa. court backs 7.5- to 17-year prison term for inmate who threw feces on guard
Pa. court backs 7.5- to 17-year prison term for inmate who threw feces on guard
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A midstate judge acted appropriately when he sentenced a state prison inmate to an extra 7 1/2 to 17 years behind bars for throwing human feces into the face of a guard, the state Superior Court has ruled.
The state court took that stance in rejecting the appeal of Ronnie Jenkins, who became so unruly during his December 2012 trial on aggravated assault charges that he had to be removed from a Schuylkill County courtroom.
Investigators said Jenkins, 33, of Philadelphia, threw a milk carton filled with human waste onto a sergeant in August 2011 while in a shower room in the state prison at Mahanoy near Frackville. The officer said the feces got into his mouth and eyes and that he feared Jenkins was trying to infect him with a communicable disease.
At the time of the incident, Jenkins was serving a 3- to 6-year sentence for his guilty pleas in a Philadelphia aggravated assault case.
During his trial over the feces-throwing incident, Jenkins testified that he had been mistreated by prison officials. He was removed from the courtroom when he kept interrupting the prosecutor’s closing argument.
In appealing to the state court, Jenkins claimed the prison term county Judge John E. Domalakes imposed for the feces incident was too severe. Domalakes ordered Jenkins to begin serving that sentence after he finishes his term in the Philadelphia aggravated assault case.
Jenkins, who is now in state prison at Graterford, also contended that Domalakes didn’t consider his rehabilitative needs.
Neither of his arguments gained traction with the state judges.
“We do not find this sentence excessive in light of the criminal behavior at issue here,” Superior Court Senior Judge Eugene B. Strassburger III wrote in his court’s opinion upholding Jenkins’ punishment.
Robert Storm
Eastern Region Vice President
rstorm@pscoa.org