State appellate court upholds attempted rape verdict in 2017 assault case in Unity

A state appellate court on Friday upheld the 10-year prison sentence and attempted rape conviction of a former Somerset County man in the September 2017 attack on a former Saint Vincent College student in Unity.

Luke W. Hoover, 25, had appealed his 2021 conviction and sentence to state Superior Court, arguing that Westmoreland County Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio erred by permitting jurors to hear evidence of his juvenile sexual assault convictions in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

He also claimed the judge erred by denying his request to be acquitted of the attempted rape charge, saying there “was no evidence of a substantial step toward committing rape” presented during his trial. Hoover also was convicted of aggravated assault, strangulation and simple assault.

During the trial, prosecutors said Hoover stalked the 18-year-old as she walked along a trail at Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve on campus.

The co-ed testified that Hoover passed her on the trail, turned and grabbed her from behind and wrapped his forearm around her neck before she fought him off and fled.

Prosecutors said Hoover was arrested four months after the attack when he was identified from a picture taken by a security camera at the nature reserve. State police said another Saint Vincent student, who had worked part-time at a halfway house near Latrobe, recognized Hoover from a photograph circulated by police.

At trial, the woman also identified Hoover as the man who attacked her.

In a 19-page opinion upholding the conviction and sentence, the three-judge panel of James G. Colins, Daniel P. McCaffery and Mary P. Murray said the Supreme Court has consistently recognized that admission of prior distinct crimes may be proper “where it is part of the history or natural development of the case.”

The judges noted that Hoover’s argument over permitting jurors to hear evidence of prior crimes is usually an argument made where the identity of the alleged assailant is at issue.

“Here, the identity of the assailant was not at issue, and thus (Hoover’s) argument — highlighting the differences between … prior bad acts and the present offense — is misplaced,” the judges wrote.

The appeals court also noted that Bilik-DeFazio had instructed the jury that Hoover was not on trial for the past sexual misconduct, “and instead, the evidence was presented only to show his intent in this case and could not be considered to show he was a person of bad character or had criminal tendencies.”

“After review … we find no abuse of discretion, nor partiality, prejudice, bias or ill will in the court’s evidentiary ruling,” the judges wrote.

Hoover is an inmate at the state prison in Somerset.