HARRISBURG, Pa. — Note: The video is from March 5.
A federal judge this week ruled an enhanced sentence can not be handed down to a former Cumberland County resident who pleaded guilty to buying and selling human body parts because the body parts had no monetary value.
In a 19-page ruling issued Monday, Chief Judge Matthew W. Brann granted a motion filed by attorneys for Jeremy Pauley objecting to a sentencing enhancement.
Prosecutors argued that Pauley made several hundred thousand dollars off the sale of stolen body parts, and because of these profits, an enhanced sentencing was warranted.
Brann disagreed.
"While one might believe that a sentencing enhancement based upon the value of stolen body parts is appropriate, that is not the law," Brann wrote in his ruling. "In this case, the value of the goods is determined not by their value to the victims, but their value to Pauley. This conflates the victims' loss with Pauley's gain."
Pauley was charged in 2022 with abuse of a corpse and related offenses by East Pennsboro Township Police, who claimed an investigation determined he was attempting to arrange the sale of body parts with an Arkansas woman.
The investigation later revealed a larger conspiracy involving several other members, including the spouse of a former director of the Harvard Medical School's Anatomical Gift Program. Several members of the conspiracy also pleaded guilty to charges related to the investigation.
Pauley pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property at a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Matthew W. Brann in Williamsport in September 2023 and pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse in January.
He has yet to be sentenced for the guilty pleas he entered in September 2023. He was sentenced to two years of probation for the guilty plea to abuse of a corpse charge.
In his ruling, Judge Brann stated that he "can and will" consider the impact of Pauley's crimes on the victims at sentencing and that the court could impose an upward departure.