Port Allegany man Terry Bundy pleaded no contest Friday in
McKean County Court to charges accusing him of shooting a man in
2004, and was sentenced to five to 10 years in state prison – the
same plea he entered and sentence he would have received had he
continued with the plea he originally tendered two years ago.

Bundy, 43, entered the plea Friday to aggravated assault,
causing serious bodily injury to another person, a first-degree
felony; possession of an instrument of crime, a first-degree
misdemeanor; reckless endangerment, a second-degree misdemeanor;
and possession of a small amount of marijuana, a misdemeanor
violation of the drug act.

In December of 2004, Bundy pleaded no contest to exactly the
same charges in the case, but withdrew his plea a month later.

On Friday, according to District Attorney John Pavlock, “The
defendant agreed that the Commonwealth could prove that on May 24,
2004, he, David Kelley and Christopher Rethmel were at the
defendant’s residence above the Midtown Bar in Port Allegany … The
parties were in the process of smoking a portion of a small bag of
the defendant’s marijuana when Mr. Kelley placed the bag of
marijuana into his shirt pocket.

“The defendant then obtained an SKS semi-automatic rifle,
pointed it at the defendant and the weapon discharged. When the
weapon discharged Mr. Rethmel was sitting directly beside Mr.
Kelley on a couch. The bullet from the weapon struck Mr. Kelley in
the face/jaw area and exited out of his neck. Mr. Kelley suffered
serious bodily injury.”

Pavlock said Bundy’s plea was an open plea, meaning there was no
recommendation for a sentence from the DA’s office.

Judge John Yoder imposed a sentence of five to 10 years in the
state penitentiary.

Bundy has already served 945 days of incarceration in McKean
County Jail awaiting trial in the case.

On Jan. 25, 2005, Bundy withdrew his no contest plea to the same
set of charges, saying he was innocent of the crime of aggravated
assault and that he misunderstood the applicability of a mandatory
minimum sentence of five years imprisonment.

Since then, the case has taken several turns. Bundy has been
represented by a total of four different lawyers, with the latest
being Raymond Bulson of Portville, N.Y.

Pavlock wanted to introduce testimony at trial about alleged
prior bad acts, but some of the testimony was excluded by Yoder.
Pavlock appealed Yoder’s ruling to the state Superior Court. The
case was at Superior Court for 530 days before being returned, with
Pavlock’s appeal being denied.

The trial was scheduled to be held, but a witness for the DA’s
office fell ill and the trial was postponed. And then, Bundy’s
attorney at the time, Joe Marasco of Bradford, found he had a
conflict, as he also represented one of the witnesses in the case
against Bundy, and had to withdraw from the case.

So Bulson was appointed and the trial was scheduled to begin
Monday and last for five days.