Plea agreement in 2006 homicide does not preclude negative parole recommendations, appellate court rules

The Pennsylvania Superior Court denied the latest appeal by admitted killer Mark M Ring, who claimed Luzerne County prosecutors acted in bad faith by submitting negative recommendations to the Pennsylvania Parole Board in violation of his plea agreement.

Ring, 66, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the July 4, 2006, shooting death of his neighbor, Joseph Tarreto, during a dispute on West Charles Street, Plains Township.

Plains Township police in court records say Ring and Tarreto, who had a long-standing dispute, were arguing before Ring used a .38-caliber handgun to shoot Tarreto three times in the chest.

The plea agreement, reached March 15, 2007, recommended a sentence of 12-to-24 years in state prison, which then judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. accepted and imposed.

In his appeal, Ring alleged prosecutors beached the plea agreement by making negative parole recommendations in 2018, 2019 and 2021, which had an impact with the state parole board when he reached his minimum sentence of 12 years.

Ring claimed prosecutors committed “intentional misrepresentation” when he agreed to the plea agreement by not revealing that prosecutors, at a later time, would recommend against his parole.

Ring believed he would be considered for parole by the parole board upon reaching the 12 year mark without objections or negative recommendations by prosecutors.

In denying Ring’s appeal, a three-member panel of the Superior Court on Friday accepted an opinion by Luzerne County Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr., who on Dec. 14, 2022, dismissed Ring’s challenge.

“The plea agreement here is silent regarding the (prosecutor’s) ability to file negative recommendations with the Parole Board, a fact that (Ring) concedes. Nor does the agreement indicate that (Ring) would be guaranteed parole…(Ring’s) guilty plea here clearly does not rest on the promise or agreement of (District Attorney), not to make a negative recommendation regarding parole. As a result, there was no breach of the plea agreement,” Sklarosky ruled, which was accepted by the appellate court.

The Superior Court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have denied previous appeals filed by Ring, who is currently housed at the State Correctional Institution at Phoenix near Philadelphia.