RIDGWAY — President Judge Richard A. Masson has denied the post sentence motions made by Francis Anthony “Tony” Milliard in which Milliard asked for a new trial and acquittal of charges after being found guilty of brutally assaulting Todd Asti in 2011.
Two separate post-sentence motions were filed on behalf of Milliard.
The first was prepared by Milliard himself as he dismissed his defense counsel, Jeffrey S. DuBois, and had not yet received new council.
In Milliard’s handwritten, two-page document, dated July 27, he asked for “all and every possible remedy within the U.S. Constitution.” He said he rights were violated by his attorney, Jeffrey DuBois, who failed to “cross examine or call on vital witnesses” in the case. “I also request a judge of acquittal or a new trial.”
Milliard explained that he waited seven days after his July 20 sentencing to speak to his new lawyer before filing anything, but he finally wrote his own post-sentence motion on July 27 because he had not heard from another attorney.
Milliard’s new attorney, Joseph Ryan, filed post-sentence motions on Aug. 4.
“At the time of trial, the Commonwealth offered evidence and testimony that resulted in the conviction of defendant as to all charges presented to the jury,” the document by Ryan read. “Defendant believes, and therefore avers, there was insufficient evidence for the jury to have found the defendant guilty of said charges.”
Because of this, Milliard asked the court to enter a judgment of acquittal on the charges against him, Ryan’s motion stated.
The document is also asking that Milliard be granted a new trial, as “the jury’s verdict was against the weight of everything offered at the time of trial” and Milliard “avers that the verdict was so contrary to the evidence so as to shock one’s senses of justice and make the award of a new trial imperative so that right might be given another opportunity to prevail.”
In making a ruling, Masson responded that Milliard’s initial motion was “obtuse” and “altogether general” and failed to comply with requirements under state law.
He ruled that this motion was “without any merit whatsoever.”
Turning to the motion filed by Ryan, Masson denied it as well, saying that he “finds no basis to supplant the verdict.”
“It is obviously the causation of Asti’s injuries that is the crux of Milliard’s challenges, but again, the defendant has not developed any portion of the record which establishes any deficiency in the proof of any element of the crimes for which Milliard was convicted or any basis to demonstrated inadequate weight,” Masson’s ruling reads.
Masson continued to say that the jury was in its parameters as fact finders to weigh all of the testimony delivered at the trial, including the testimony of Anthony Milliard and Francis Milliard.
Francis Milliard is currently incarcerated on a federal sentence, which is set to expire in December 2018.
After that sentence has expired, Milliard will begin to serve the sentence of 20 to 40 years that he received from Masson for being found guilty of attempted murder of Asti.
In 2038, Milliard will begin to serve his sentence of 27 to 57 years for the 2012 Ridgway arson case.
In total, Milliard will spend the next two years completing his federal sentence and then he will serve 47 to 97 years of incarceration for the arson case and the Asti case.
The earliest that Milliard could be paroled is 2065, at the age of 108.
Milliard can now appeal Masson’s decision with the Pennsylvania Superior Court.
