A Centre County man who was convicted of repeatedly raping an intellectually disabled girl wasn't over-punished when he was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison, a state appeals court has ruled.
That is true even though Phillip D. Colton is serving two separate jail terms for the same rape, President Judge Susan Peikes Gantman concluded in the Superior Court opinion.
On appeal, Colton, 60, of Osceola Mills, argued that he received an illegal double penalty when he was sentenced for separate convictions of rape of a mentally disabled person and rape of a child. He claimed he should have received only one sentence for both those crimes because they involved the same rape.
Gantman found that county Judge Katherine V. Oliver was right to impose a 4- to 8-year jail term for the rape of a mentally diabled person conviction and a consecutive 6- to 12-year prison sentence for the rape of a child count.
Although the convictions stemmed from the same rape, the charges involve different distinct criminal criminal elements, Gantman noted. The rape of a child conviction applies because the victim was under 13, she observed, while the rape of a mentally disabled person charge dealt only with the victim's reduced mental capacity.
Colton's total sentence includes prison terms for other convictions on charges, such as aggravated indecent assault of a child.
Investigators said Colton sexually abused the girl at least a dozen times when she was ages 10 to 12. He was arrested in 2013.