Judge affirms guilty verdict in case of attempted rape of Saint Vincent coed

A judge this week rejected the appeal of a Latrobe man who was convicted this year of the 2017 attempted rape of a Saint Vincent College student.

In a nine-page opinion, Westmoreland County Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio affirmed the jury’s guilty verdict against Luke Hoover and, in doing so, denied the defense claim that prosecutors presented insufficient evidence to support the conviction.

Hoover, 24, formerly of Somerset County, was convicted of attempted rape, aggravated assault, strangulation and simple assault after a two-day jury trial in April and was sentenced in July to serve 5 to 10 years in prison consecutive to another jail term he is now serving for a sexual assault in Somerset County.

Prosecutors said Hoover stalked the 18-year-old Kittanning woman as she walked along a trail at Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve in Unity during the first weeks of her freshman year at the nearby college.

She testified Hoover passed her on the trail, turned, grabbed her from behind and wrapped his forearm around her neck before she fought him off and fled. Prosecutors said Hoover was identified by another Saint Vincent student, who worked part time at a halfway house near Latrobe, from a picture taken by a security camera.

The victim, who later transferred to another school, testified the man in the picture was the same person who attacked her on the trail.

During the trial, prosecutors said Hoover’s attack on the coed was nearly identical to three prior incidents involving other women for which he was prosecuted. In his appeal, Hoover argued the judge should not have allowed evidence of those prior attacks to be presented to the jury.

The judge disagreed.

“These similarities establish a logical connection between the prior acts and the incident in this case. The act of placing his hands around a victim’s neck is a signature and admissible,” the judge wrote.