Former Penn professor Tracy McIntosh has filed a petition to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to appeal a Superior Court decision that he be resentenced for his sexual-assualt conviction.
McIntosh's lawyer, Thomas Bergstrom, said McIntosh filed the appeal on Dec. 7. If the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agrees to hear his case, he could avoid the Superior Court's resentencing order, which could result in a maximum of five and a half to 11 years in prison.
McIntosh was charged with sexually assaulting his former college roommate's 23-year-old niece when she visited him in September 2002. He pleaded no contest at his 2004 trial and was sentenced by Judge Rayford Means in March 2005 to 11 to 23 months of house arrest and eight years of probation.
That sentence was overturned by the Superior Court in November, and McIntosh's case was initially sent to a lower court for resentencing.
Philadelphia criminal defense lawyer Patrick Artur said it is highly unlikely that McIntosh's petition will be granted.
He added that Means' original sentence was a "departure from the guidelines" for sentencing in sexual-assault cases.
Officials from the District Attorney's office, which fought for and won McIntosh's resentencing order on appeal to the Superior Court, hope that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will uphold the order should it agree to hear McIntosh case - but cannot ensure a victory.
"That's for the courts to decide," DA spokeswoman Cathy Abookire said.
In spite of the possibility for appeal, Abookire said the DA's office has not scaled back its goals for McIntosh's sentence.
"We initially asked for state prison time, and that's what we'd like to see happen," she said.
Abookire added that Means' original sentence for McIntosh, which included no jail time, was "horribly lenient."
With the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's pending decision about whether to hear the latest appeal in the McIntosh case, Abookire expressed concern that the victim has waited far too long for the former Penn professor's sentence.
"At some point, we hope for our victim that the case ends," she said.
