HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania -- Giovanny Cotto was 17 when he shot a state trooper in the neck during a wild car chase on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
He is serving a 35- to 70- year prison sentence for his crimes.
Cotto is right where he needs to be, a state Superior Court panel has ruled.
The court made that call in an opinion by Judge Daniel D. McCaffery, who rejected Cotti’s contention that his punishment is “manifestly excessive.”
Cotto’s trip to prison began on the morning of Nov. 24, 2015 when two troopers pulled him over on the turnpike near Philadelphia because his car has an expired registration sticker. The officers quickly found Cotto didn’t have a driver’s license.
It was then, McCaffery wrote, that Cotto decided to flee. Police said he raced onto the turnpike in the midst of the morning rush hour and began weaving through traffic with the cops in pursuit. When the troopers tried to box him in with their cruisers, Cotto rammed one of the police cars, knocking its engine out of commission.
The Philadelphia teen then crashed into the back of a school bus and as the disabled cruiser coasted by he shot Trooper Patrick Casey, police said. He shot at two other troopers as well and was finally tackled by officers as he tried to run away.
Meanwhile, Cotto’s wrecked car caught fire and set the bus ablaze as well.
His prison term was imposed by Philadelphia Judge Roxanne E. Covington under a deal where Cotto pleaded guilty to charges including three counts of attempted murder. Trooper Casey survived being shot and was released from the hospital a few days later.
On appeal, Cotto, now 21, claimed his sentence is illegally long because he was a juvenile when he committed his crimes.
In disagreeing, McCaffery cited Covington’s finding that, “What happened that morning during rush-hour traffic, however, cannot be characterized as a youthful indiscretion… Given how busy the highway was at that time and how many officers had confronted (Cotto), it is remarkable that no one aside from Trooper Casey was injured or killed.”
McCaffery also rejected Cotto’s argument that his guilty plea should be voided because he didn’t fully understand his plea agreement and the punishment it carried.
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