Former Bradford music store owner Edward Wright has lost his appeal to the state Superior Court challenging his legal designation as a sexually violent predator.
In a ruling handed down last month, a three-judge panel upheld the McKean County sentence of Wright, 70, to one to two years in state prison, with four years of consecutive probation, along with lifetime registration as a sexually violent predator.
The charges came about in 2020. According to court records, a juvenile female reported to Bradford City Police that during November and December 2018 at Wright’s Music Shed — a business owned by Wright on Main Street of Bradford — Wright touched her inappropriately on several occasions while making remarks of a sexual nature, and made comments meant to prevent her from reporting the contact.
Wright had pled guilty to charges of indecent assault on a victim less than 16, indecent assault without consent and corruption of minors in January of 2021. A sexually violent predator hearing was held June 11, 2021. He was sentenced July 22, 2021.
Wright, through Bradford attorney Gregory Henry, filed the appeal in August 2021, challenging President Judge John Pavlock’s limited qualification of Dr. Robert Maiden, presented as a defense expert at the sexually violent predator hearing.
In the Superior Court’s memorandum, however, the judges delved into the transcript of that hearing. The transcript showed that while Pavlock found Maiden wasn’t an expert in every category in which he was presented, the judge did consider his testimony, yet found that the Commonwealth’s expert had more experience in Pennsylvania law and assessments.
The Superior Court’s memorandum also spelled out Pavlock’s ruling on why Wright was designated a predator. An evaluator with the Sexual Offender Assessment Board concluded Wright met the diagnostic criteria for a paraphilic disorder, he was previously convicted in 1986 of sexually assaulting teenage students while he was band director at Bradford Area High School, and when he was 66 or 67, he again used a position of power to isolate a young female, gain her trust and sexually assault her, the memorandum read.
“After careful review, we adopt the trial court’s analysis and conclusion, which is supported by the record and applicable law. We discern no abuse of the court’s broad discretion in its rulings with respect to Dr. Maiden’s expert qualification,” the Superior Court ruled. Accordingly, Wright was not entitled to relief and the appeal was denied.
Under Pennsylvania law, “a sexually violent predator is a sex offender convicted of a sexually violent offense in Pennsylvania who has ‘a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses,’” according to the Assessment Board.
