Snaman

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County judge on Friday reduced an Altoona man’s sentence for possessing an extensive child pornography collection to nine to 18 years, from an original sentence of 56 to 112 years that a researcher said exceeded every comparable sentence in the county, state and nation.

Defense attorneys for Jeffrey Scott Snaman, 34, now an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Fayette, said they were appreciative of Senior Judge Timothy M. Sullivan’s reconsideration and reduction of Snaman’s original sentence imposed in November 2022.

But attorneys Stephanie Noel and Aaron Sontz of Pittsburgh also argued in favor of an even shorter sentence than the nine to 18 years imposed, so they left court Friday indicating that they would talk with their client about appeal options.

In crafting the original sentence, Sullivan handed down seven consecutive sentences of eight to 16 years each on each of the seven counts of possession of child pornography, thereby adding up to 56 to 112 years.

On Friday, Sullivan vacated the original sentence and said a modification was warranted in light of information presented in court and in court documents.

Assistant District Attorney Julia Wilt acknowledged to Sullivan that based on her review of the sentencing guidelines for possession of child pornography as a third degree felony, the statutory maximum penalty is 3.5 to seven years for each count.

The defense attorneys challenged the eight to 16 years imposed for each of seven counts in the original sentence. They also presented testimony from Penn State researcher Jeffrey Ulmer who found Snaman’s total sentence far exceeded sentences handed down in other child pornography possession cases, as well as sentences for criminal convictions including third degree murder, rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

Ulmer said his research, from an examination of Pennsylvania’s child pornography cases between 2001-19, found 95% were addressed with a sentence of 10 years or less.

“That’s the aggregate total sentence,” Ulmer said.

The researcher also reported reviewing sentences handed down in Blair County during those same years for possession of child pornography. He calculated 1.4 years as an average sentence from cases resolved with negotiated guilty pleas.

Snaman testified that before he went on trial in August 2022, he understood from then-defense attorney Robert Donaldson that the DA’s office was willing to resolve his charges with a sentence of three to six years incarceration in exchange for guilty pleas. Snaman also indicated that Donaldson had told him that if convicted at trial, the DA’s office would likely seek a sentence of 4.5 to nine years.

When Sontz asked Snaman if he was told that he could face a potential sentence of 56 to 112 years, Snaman answered no.

“I had no understanding of that potential,” the inmate testified.

At Snaman’s sentencing hearing, First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith presented Sullivan with a request for a lengthy sentence, reflecting a penalty of eight to 16 years incarceration, identified as applicable at that time for each count of child pornography possession, based on the evidence.

During Snaman’s trial, Smith presented the jury with evidence of his extensive collection that included more than 1,500 photos and 124 videos. The images, displayed in court, showed young children exposing their genitals and engaging or pretending to engage in sex acts with themselves and with others.

Smith backed up her request for the lengthy sentence by stressing that even though Snaman didn’t produce or distribute the materials, his possession of the materials — as found on his cellphone, laptop computer and related devices — causes others to generate the pornography and victimize every child pictured and videotaped.

Sontz told Sullivan that he thought Smith’s intent, at sentencing, was to see Snaman penalized for exercising his right to go to trial.

“When you read between the lines … (she’s) trying to show that he should have taken the plea offer,” Sontz told the judge on Friday.

Sullivan, when handing down the original sentence and in court on Friday, said he continues to agree with the position taken by the Commonwealth regarding the children in the pictures and videos.

“Every single child depicted is a victim and has been harmed,” the judge said.

When imposing the new sentence, Sullivan assigned three to six years’ incarceration to three counts of child pornography possession and ordered that they be served consecutively, thereby adding up to the total sentence of nine to 18 years. The judge assigned concurrent incarceration periods to additional counts of child pornography possession and related offenses.

Noel and Sontz also praised Ulmer’s research and statistical analysis of data to show that Snaman’s original sentence was “disproportional to his conduct, manifestly excessively and clearly unreasonable,” as they argued in a petition offered for Sullivan’s review.

“We’d love to see more of that,” Noel said in reference to Ulmer’s research.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.