Without comment, the State Supreme Court last week declined to take up a 90-year-old Brush Valley man’s appeal of his sexual assault case.
Ralph Duncan pleaded guilty in 2012 to one count of sexual assault and two counts of witness intimidation for molesting a teenage girl over a three-year period beginning when she was 13, and for attempting to prevent other family members from reporting the abuse. He was 84 years old at the time.
Duncan appealed to the Supreme Court after Superior Court ruled against him last year, due to his failure to file his appeal on time, in fact two years too late. The court then turned down a second petition because he failed to address the timeliness issue, instead submitting a single page on which he tried to convince the court to take up the appeal based on a “newly discovered fact”, although he failed to disclose what that fact was. He then tried to claim ineffective counsel by his trial attorney. The court turned that down, too.
Duncan is serving 8-and-a-half to 30 years at the state prison in Houtzdale.
