A federal judge has ruled the guilty plea of a Dauphin County man to a charge of possession of child pornography is valid but the former Mount Carmel police lieutenant may pursue ineffective counsel claims.
U.S. Middle District Senior Judge William W. Caldwell Wednesday said by pleading guilty, Blaine R. Handerhan waived his right to appeal claims of an illegal search or a violation of Miranda rights.
However, the appeal is different because it alleges the late Matthew Gover was ineffective for not pursuing issues based on those rights, he wrote. Gover died in 2012 of brain cancer.
Handerhan, who is serving an eight-year term in federal prison, retired from the Mount Carmel police department in 2005 after nearly 31 years as an officer; he claimed Gover failed to file motions to suppress evidence taken from his Swatara Twp. home and statements he made after his arrest.
Gover represented Handerhan when he pleaded guilty but retired due to illness prior to Handerhan’s sentencing. A Gover associate, Brian Perry, handled the sentencing the same year.
Handerhan was arrested Feb. 6, 2006, following a search of his home. Authorities alleged they found 147,070 images and 1,250 video files depicting child pornography on a computer they seized.
It took six years to complete the case because of numerous continuances in trial and sentencing dates.
Handerhan, the one-time acting chief in Mount Carmel, contends in his appeal any statements he made immediately after his arrest should be suppressed because he was not given his Miranda rights for 90 minutes although in custody.
Evidence taken from his home should be suppressed because the search warrant incorrectly listed a Jonestown address, he contends.
Caldwell gave the government three weeks to respond to the ineffective counsel claims.
Handerhan, who earlier this year was transferred over his objection from the federal prison at Fort Dix, N.J., to Danbury, Conn., is serving an eight-year term.
He is scheduled to be released in August 2019 after which he will begin a 10-year term of supervised release.
At sentencing, he told Caldwell he suffers from depression, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder and realized after the search of his home he needed to get help.