Appeal calls for annulment of conviction against child rapist | News

Williamsport, Pennsylvania – In October 2023, 37-year-old Marcus McDaniel of Williamsport was found guilty of raping a six-year-old child despite failing to appear in court.

In February of this year, he was sentenced to a total term of 61 to 121 years in a state reformatory.

Now McDaniel claims the prosecution threw out evidence and biased the jury. In his appeal, he also claims Judge Ryan Tira imposed a harsh sentence.

In a written opinion to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Tira requested that the appeal be dismissed.

The case

In early April 2022, Michelle R. Strayer, 33, and Marcus D. McDaniel, 35, both of Muncy, were incarcerated in the Lycoming County Jail after being arraigned on charges of child exploitation, rape, and endangering the welfare of a child.

Lycoming County Detective Loretta Clark received a tip from ChildLine on March 30 of that year that a minor child had told a guidance counselor that McDaniel had touched him inappropriately. The child used a stuffed animal to demonstrate the sexual acts McDaniel had allegedly performed on him.

According to the affidavit, the child told the guidance counselor that he could not talk about the events because Strayer had made him promise not to talk about them.

The child described details of inappropriate touching and sleeping naked in the same bed as the couple. The most recent incident allegedly occurred the week before, according to the affidavit.

McDaniel was charged with two counts each: rape of a child, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, unlawful sexual contact with a minor, indecent touching of a person under 13 years of age, and one count each: endangering the welfare of a child and seducing a minor.

Strayer was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, criminal conspiracy to commit child rape, sexual exploitation of a child, unlawful sexual contact with a minor, and obstruction of justice.

While Strayer was released under supervision following a hearing in July 2022, McDaniel was free on bail and working out of state.

However, he did not appear for the jury selection in October 2023.

His two-day trial ended in late October 2023, despite his escape. A month later, U.S. Marshalls arrested him in a hotel in Concord, New Hampshire.

McDaniel was found guilty of four counts of rape of a child, four counts of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a child, indecent assault on a person under 13, criminal incitement and intimidation, retaliation or obstruction in one count of child abuse.

McDaniel’s appointment

McDaniel now claims the prosecution has evidence that the victim allegedly blamed another person for the crimes. Tira ruled that the defense could ask the victim who she thought raped her, but could not ask directly if it was a specific relative. Tira agreed with the prosecution that such questions were not relevant to McDaniel’s trial.

McDaniel’s claim that the prosecution biased the jury is based on the request to call his probation officer to the stand. Tira allowed the probation officer to be questioned during the trial, but did not allow him to give his opinion on McDaniel’s escape.

In a series of text messages exchanged with the probation officer, McDaniel virtually guaranteed that he would be present at the October hearing. Despite these assurances, McDaniel failed to show up.

McDaniel claims the probation officer biased the jury. Tira argued that since his opinion was not expressed regarding McDaniel’s intentions to appear for trial or not, the jury was not biased in any way.

Tira backed up his verdict by emphasizing the seriousness of the charges against McDaniel. McDaniel was found guilty of four counts of rape of a child, involuntary sexual abuse of a child, sexual assault of a person under 13, and obstruction of justice.

McDaniel was sentenced to between 10 and 20 years in prison for each count, with six years to be served consecutively. Tira cited several reasons for the heavy sentence, including McDaniel’s misleading of his probation officer and attorney, his lack of remorse, and the fact that he did not want his family present at the sentencing hearing because they would learn of his crimes.

Finally, Tira argued that the nature of McDaniel’s offenses provided evidence of involuntary, deviant sexual intercourse with a child. Tira cited direct quotes from the victim and a key witness at trial to support his claims.

“The court finds that the testimony of both the victim and (the witness) sufficiently established each element of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a child,” Tira wrote.

Routing sheet

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