Superior Court orders Rosario to be sentenced a third time in attempted homicide case

Keith Rosario may be getting a third bite at the apple.
A state Superior Court panel ruled last week that Rosario, who was convicted of abducting and attempting to kill a man near a South Franklin Township reservoir in 2017, should be re-sentenced after determining that parts of his 25- to- 50-year prison sentence went beyond the normal range.

Keith Rosario
It would be the third time Rosario, 32, of Washington, is sentenced for his 2019 conviction on attempted homicide, aggravated assault and kidnapping after the original 35½- to- 90-year prison term was also thrown out by the state Superior Court due to changes in sentencing guidelines.
Rosario and a co-defendant kidnapped Marcus Stancik from Washington on Sept. 7, 2017, and drove him to Cove Road in South Franklin, where Rosario forced him to his knees on the shore of the reservoir. Rosario then shot him in the base of his skull, but when he attempted to fire the handgun again, it jammed and Stancik was able to jump into the water and swim away while shouting for help to a nearby resident, who called 911. Stancik survived and testified against Rosario at trial.
In its most recent decision Wednesday, the three-judge panel determined that Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Valarie Costanzo sentenced Rosario above the aggravated range in 2022 on the kidnapping and aggravated assault convictions, although it upheld the sentence on the attempted homicide.
Rosario received 10 to 20 years for the attempted homicide conviction, along with 10 to 20 years for kidnapping and 5 to 10 on the aggravated assault charge, all of which were to be served consecutively.
“We conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in imposing sentences that were substantially outside of the aggravated range of the guidelines on (aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping),” the panel wrote. “The statutory maximum sentences and the trial court’s rationale in support were unreasonable in several respects under (the appeal’s review of record).”
While Constazo noted Rosario’s lack of remorse in his re-sentencing last year, the state Superior Court panel said she should have also considered other factors, such as his attempts at rehabilitation since his original sentencing. According to the appellate court’s ruling, Rosario had completed classes in violence prevention and batterers’ intervention, was learning to speak Italian, studying the law, writing a book and also hoping to one day attend cosmetology training sessions in prison.
“The trial court was entitled to consider Rosario’s lack of remorse toward the victim as a factor in sentencing,” the panel wrote. “Nonetheless, it was required to consider the evidence Rosario presented regarding his attempts at rehabilitation in the time since his initial sentencing. Here, the trial court did not address that evidence in imposing sentences that were substantially higher than the ones it imposed prior to Rosario undertaking those rehabilitative efforts.”
But the Superior Court panel’s 2-1 ruling – Senior Judge Dan Pellegrini and President Judge Emeritus John Bender voted in favor of Rosario’s re-sentencing while sitting President Judge Jack Panella dissented – may open the door for prosecutors to ask for the court to reevaluate the decision.
First Deputy District Attorney John Friedmann said they plan to ask the entire state Superior Court to reconsider the ruling and allow them to re-argue the decision “en banc” with all the court’s judges hearing the case. Friedmann said they could also eventually appeal to the state Supreme Court, meaning Rosario’s new sentencing date won’t be scheduled any time soon, if it happens at all.
“We disagree with the Superior County panel and we intend to ask for re-argument for reconsideration in front of the entire Superior Court,” Friedmann said.
Rosario’s appellate attorney, John Egers, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Rosario, who is currently being held at Albion state prison in Erie County, has been jailed since his arrest shortly after the shooting.