Sentencing delayed in rape case
?A Uniontown man who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and rape in April on Monday expressed a desire to withdraw his plea.
The sentencing hearing scheduled for Howard Layhue, 36, was delayed because his attorney, Nicholas Timperio Jr., did not appear for the matter.
Fayette County Judge Ralph C. Warman asked Layhue if Timperio still represented him in the case.
“Yes,” said Layhue. “But I wanted to withdraw my plea and get rid of him and get another attorney.”
Thursday’s proceedings were scheduled to sentence Layhue to the seven to 14 years associated with his plea.
However, Warman delayed proceedings in the matter until next week.
District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. said prosecutors did not get notice of the sentencing, and it was possible that Timperio was also not given notice to appear.
State police charged that Layhue waited outside a Georges Township elementary school on Oct. 2, 2009, and after a woman dropped her child off there, he broke the window of the car she was driving with a sawed-off shotgun.
Trooper John Marshall charged that Layhue forced the woman into the passenger seat, and drove her to Quebec Run Road in Wharton Township, where he raped her.
HeraldStandard.com does not identify victims in sex assault cases.
Layhue fled when police showed up, and was captured about one month later.
Initially, Layhue was scheduled for trial in March, but did not show up for his trial, prompting a bench warrant for his arrest. He turned himself in after criminal court week, and when he was scheduled for trial in April, entered a guilty plea in the case to kidnapping, rape, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and a weapons violation.
Because he did not show up for court in March, Warman sentenced him to four months in prison for criminal contempt. At the time, Layhue had been free on $100,000 bond since August. Warman subsequently increased Layhue’s bond.
and he has been in the Fayette County Prison since March 15.