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Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 2/13/08 Section: News
Former prof faces resentencing
Closure could finally come after long legal battle in McIntosh sexual-assault case
Meredith Aska McBride
Tracy McIntosh, the former Penn Neurosurgery professor who pleaded no contest in December 2004 to sexually assaulting his college roommate's then-23-year-old niece in 2002, will be resentenced this morning in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
The resentencing should bring closure to a lengthy legal battle that began in March 2005 when McIntosh was sentenced to 11-and-a-half to 23 months of house arrest, probation and fines and restitution to the victim, who was about to enter Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine.
The resentencing also raises questions about whether Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe will face pressure to hand down a harsh punishment after the outcry that occurred following Judge Rayford Means' original sentence, which many thought was too lenient.
State sentencing guidelines call for three to six years in prison for McIntosh's offense.
Prosecutors appealed Means' sentence, and in November 2006 the Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated that sentence, concurring that it was too lenient.
The Superior Court opinion stated "that a downward departure from the [sentencing] guidelines is unreasonable," said Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Patrick Artur. "I think you're going to find … a sentence within the guidelines and an extensive written narrative" behind it.
The lack of clear written reasoning caused problems after Means' sentence.
McIntosh's attorney, Joel Trigiani, alleges that the sentence was the result of a backroom deal between Means and the case's former prosecutors and defense attorneys. That deal purportedly stated that McIntosh would not receive prison time in exchange for his no-contest plea.
Means - who has never publicly stated the reasons for his sentence - recused himself from the case last September.
"Judge Means acted improperly in a number of ways" according to the Superior Court, Artur said. He added, "The most egregious was the lack of a written statement" on the reasons behind his sentencing decision.
The resentencing should bring closure to a lengthy legal battle that began in March 2005 when McIntosh was sentenced to 11-and-a-half to 23 months of house arrest, probation and fines and restitution to the victim, who was about to enter Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine.
The resentencing also raises questions about whether Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe will face pressure to hand down a harsh punishment after the outcry that occurred following Judge Rayford Means' original sentence, which many thought was too lenient.
State sentencing guidelines call for three to six years in prison for McIntosh's offense.
Prosecutors appealed Means' sentence, and in November 2006 the Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated that sentence, concurring that it was too lenient.
The Superior Court opinion stated "that a downward departure from the [sentencing] guidelines is unreasonable," said Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Patrick Artur. "I think you're going to find … a sentence within the guidelines and an extensive written narrative" behind it.
The lack of clear written reasoning caused problems after Means' sentence.
McIntosh's attorney, Joel Trigiani, alleges that the sentence was the result of a backroom deal between Means and the case's former prosecutors and defense attorneys. That deal purportedly stated that McIntosh would not receive prison time in exchange for his no-contest plea.
Means - who has never publicly stated the reasons for his sentence - recused himself from the case last September.
"Judge Means acted improperly in a number of ways" according to the Superior Court, Artur said. He added, "The most egregious was the lack of a written statement" on the reasons behind his sentencing decision.
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