INDIANA
The Star Press
HARTFORD CITY — If Joseph Pennington — the former Hartford City youth pastor convicted of having a sexual relationship with 15-year-old congregation member — hoped to rehabilitate his image, this probably won’t help.
The Indiana Court of Appeals this week rejected Pennington’s appeal of the eight-year prison term he received last September from Blackford Circuit Court Judge Dean Young.
In rejecting the 33-year-old Pennington’s argument that his sentence was “inappropriate in light of the nature of his offense and his character,” the appeals court referred in part to allegations that were never aired during public court proceedings.
Pennington’s case was not resolved through a trial, but by his guilty plea to sexual misconduct with a minor, a Class B felony that carried a standard 10-year sentence.
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