Monroe man convicted of assaulting elderly man in Stroudsburg

A man who attacked a 75-year-old man outside the Monroe County Courthouse in February has been sentenced.

On Thursday, November 14, Adam John Male, 43, of Saylorsburg, was sentenced to prison in an assault case and three to six months in a separate driving under the influence case.

February 5The man was leaving the Monroe County Courthouse when he punched the victim, Lloyd Leap. On September 11, the man pleaded guilty to simple assault and recklessly endangering the welfare of another person, both second-degree misdemeanors.

During his sentencing, Male said the attack was “not indicative of who I am” and apologized for what he had done.

The victim’s wife, Wanda Leap, testified in her statement that she was in the hospital when she learned her husband had been attacked.

“You made my life hell,” Wanda Leap said, adding that she thought her husband was dead. She asked Maly, “Why did you hit my husband anyway?”

Judge Jennifer Sibum said Male had been diagnosed with mental problems and that he did not remember parts of it.

Wanda Leap added that Male owes her an apology.

The man replied that his apology was partly to his family, as well as to the judge and the Commonwealth, before adding that he believed the victim was someone in his life who had “talked the crap out of him”. Sibum later revealed from a pre-sentence report that Male was talking about US Senator Chuck Schumer.

Lloyd suffered numerous injuries as a result of the attack, including, but not limited to, whiplash, lacerations, contusions, and a broken and sprained wrist. His son Jeffrey Leap also said his father had a small microvascular lesion in his brain that he believed could lead to long-term brain damage.

Jeffrey Leap demanded the most severe punishment for Male, adding that he did not attack anyone his height or age or choose someone who would be able to defend himself because the victim was not looking at him and had one hand on the dog’s leash.

Lloyd Leap was present at the Male sentencing and did not make a victim impact statement.

Before she handed down the sentence, Sibum told Male that she hoped he would understand the trauma the victim’s family had been through. Male said it “opened his eyes to not taking medication.” Sibum said she hopes his words turn out to be true and time will tell. She said there would never be an acceptable reason for Male to attack people or avoid taking medication.

Sibum sentenced Male to a maximum of three to six months, two years’ probation and a $300 fine for a separate driving under the influence case. In the assault case, she sentenced him to 194 days to two years in prison, two years’ probation and a $250 fine. The sentences must follow each other.

Assistant District Attorney Chad Martinez, who was present at the sentencing, noted that the sentence “exceeded even the most severe sentence set forth in the sentencing guidelines.”

“Joke” and “maximum possible sentence”

After the verdict, the Leap family criticized Maly for not receiving more severe charges and a harsher sentence. Lloyd Leap’s son, Steve Leap, just said he’s “soft on crime.”

“Because of the lasting damage he has done to my family, this sentence is a joke,” Jeffrey Leap said. “Three to six months for a DUI that not even my family was involved in.”

Monroe County Assistant District Attorney James Fuller, who prosecuted the case, spoke to the Pocono Record by phone.

Another complaint from the Leap family was that video of Lloyd’s assault was not played before the judge. When asked if this was true, Fuller said it probably was because Male had pleaded guilty and there was no reason to show the video. “I mean, if we had to prove it, but he admitted to it,” Fuller said. “He pleaded guilty to two main charges.”

Asked why Male was not charged with a crime, Fuller replied that serious bodily injury must be shown in the case of aggravated assault, adding that “case law has defined this as a type of permanent disfigurement.”

“So for something like a broken arm or a broken bone, in some cases it has even been stated that a concussion can mean serious bodily injury and things like that,” Fuller said. “And the victim in this case just didn’t have it.”

“We take everything into consideration when laying charges, and the charges would have been made by the Stroud Area Regional Police Department who responded to the scene and they kind of made the decision,” Fuller said. “We kind of have to move away from what we have as specifics, so if they say, ‘it could lead to this,’ we need actual serious bodily injury.”

Fuller also said Male’s time in prison exceeds the generally recommended standard. “So he served the maximum possible sentence we could get for him,” Fuller said.

Max Augugliaro is a public safety and government reporter for the Pocono Record. Reach it at [email protected].