LOCK HAVEN - Joseph J. Newman Jr., 50, of Mill Hall, will continue to serve 14.5 to 29 years in state prison, according the Pennsylvania Superior Court in an Opinion filed June 15th.  The appeal was Newman's latest effort to overturn his conviction and win his release from the department of corrections.  Newman was sentenced by Clinton County Judge Michael Salisbury in October of 2017 after a jury found him guilty of seven charges in connection with a shooting in August of 2016 in Mill Hall.

For the Commonwealth, DA Dave Strouse prosecuted Newman at trial and ultimately convicted him of Aggravated Assault, Aggravated Assault With a Deadly Weapon, Carrying a Firearm Without a License, Simple Assault, Recklessly Endangering Another Person, and Person Not to Possess a Firearm.  Witnesses described Newman as having approached a group of men who identified as members of the Brewery Hollow Outsiders Motorcycle Club, pulling a firearm, and firing several shots at the victim, Gary Lucas.  Newman had previously been convicted of felony offenses which disqualified him from being permitted to possess a firearm at the time he shot at Lucas. 

In his most recent appeal, Newman alleged that Judge Salisbury should have granted him a new trial due to several errors made by his trial attorney.  The Superior Court disagreed and instead affirmed Salisbury's Decision from August of 2020 - where he determined that Newman's claims were meritless. 

Among the primary reasons that Newman argued he deserved a new trial was the alleged existence of a witness that his trial attorney never called, Nancy Ducharme.  Newman argued that Ducharme would prove that he never touched a gun that night and never assaulted anyone.  But the Appellate and Trial Court both disagreed, citing Strouse's argument that Ducharme admittedly never even contacted police to make a statement until several months after the shooting - despite the fact that Newman sat locked in a jail cell for a crime she claims to know he didn't commit. 

During her testimony in support of Newman's request for new trial, Ducharme was cross-examined by Strouse at an evidentiary hearing where she admitted that she suffered from severe memory issues as a result from a "double stroke".  In response to Strouse's questioning, she also admitted that she had told police in her original statement that there were no shots fired that night in 2016, but claimed to have recalled someone setting off fireworks. 

Newman's original trial counsel, Hugh Taylor, Esquire, also testified that he never called Ducharme as a witness at trial because she was suspected of being a "traitor" and Newman's then-girlfriend directed trial counsel that Ducharme was "not to be trusted".  In his argument and briefs to the Courts, Strouse described Ducharme's testimony as "total nonsense" and "rambling lies that couldn't be reconciled with the testimony of the eyewitnesses and neighbors who actually watched Newman aim a gun and pull the trigger."

Salisbury rejected Ducharme's testimony in it's entirety, and the Superior Court opined that Judge Salisbury's decision was "supported by both the record and the prevailing legal authority, such that we discern no abuse of discretion" in finding trial counsel effective.

Newman is able to seek review of the Superior Court's most recent decision with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and has until mid-July to file a petition.