SMETHPORT — A new trial will be scheduled for a Smethport man accused of making threats with a machete and strangling someone in 2018.

On Sept. 30, 2019, Mark A. Carlson, 48, was convicted at a jury trial of felony charges of strangulation and aggravated assault and misdemeanor charges of terroristic threats, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

Carlson was sentenced to 33 to 66 months in state prison. He has served roughly 14 of those months, according to Public Defender Philip Clabaugh.

On Thursday, Carlson appeared for a status conference before McKean County President Judge John Pavlock.

Court records indicate Carlson went through the 2019 trial pro se — meaning without an attorney — then Philadelphia attorney Todd Mosser later filed an appeal on Carlson’s behalf.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court overturned the conviction and vacated the sentence, according to Pavlock.

Pavlock set Carlson’s bail at $250 pending trial, and Carlson is to have no contact with the alleged victims or any witnesses as a condition of his bail.

The criminal complaint filed at the time of Carlson’s arrest alleged that he threatened to kill people with a machete and strangled one of them. He was allegedly swinging a machete inside an East Smethport home, and had grabbed a woman by the throat and squeezed her throat until she was unable to breathe, the complaint stated.

No new trial date is set. A status conference is set for March 4.

Pavlock announced in December that no jury trials will be held in the county until at least April 15 due to the COVID-19 judicial emergency in place.