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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Has Douglas Bitzer spent three years in a state prison beyond what was agreed upon when he pleaded guilty to engaging in a five-hour standoff with police after assaulting a woman in March 2016?
				His attorney, Michael C. Kostelaba, believes so.
				Bitzer, 41, originally from Freeland, was sentenced twice for the separate incidents that occurred with a domestic assault inside a residence in the 400 block of Adams Street in Freeland on March 15, 2016, which led to a standoff with police the next day.
				The standoff resulted in numerous police departments surrounding the residence before he was taken into custody.
				During what was scheduled as a motions hearing before Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough &mdash; now the president judge &mdash; on Aug. 26, 2016, prosecutors and Kostelaba announced a plea agreement on separate criminal complaints.
				Court records say Bitzer pleaded guilty to terroristic threats, simple assault and reckless endangerment for the domestic assault case and pleaded guilty to terroristic threats, simple assault, stalking and risking a catastrophe related to the standoff.
				Although not written in the actual plea agreement, a court transcript of the hearing shows prosecutors and Kostelaba verbally agreed that any sentence imposed would run concurrently, meaning at the same time.
				Under the plea agreement, prosecutors withdrew the most serious charges against Bitzer including aggravated assault and burglary.
				During the sentencing hearing held Oct. 14, 2016, prosecutors announced the most Bitzer could face in prison was nine to 19 months, noting, &ldquo;the course of events put a great many people in danger through (Bitzer&rsquo;s) actions,&rdquo; according to the hearing&rsquo;s transcript.
				Vough&rsquo;s sentence
				Vough did honor the verbal agreement and imposed concurrent sentences between the two separate cases.
				However, Vough imposed consecutive sentences for each of the charges &mdash; terroristic threats, simple assault, stalking and risking a catastrophe &mdash; related to the standoff, which placed Bitzer in state prison for two years, six months to five years. Bitzer was given credit for 213 days time served when he was sentenced in October 2016.
				Vough denied a request for Bitzer to withdraw his guilty plea when he learned of the lengthy sentence.
				Bitzer appealed the sentence to the state Superior Court, which upheld Vough&rsquo;s sentence in November 2017.
				The U.S. Third District Court of Appeals in a July 2020 opinion ordered a new sentencing hearing for Bitzer finding that prosecutors were &ldquo;inconsistent with what Bitzer reasonably understood&rdquo; to be the terms of his plea agreement.
				Vough re-sentenced Bitzer on Nov. 3 to all concurrent sentences on each charge.
				For one charge, terroristic threats, which Bitzer was originally sentenced to six-months to one-year, Vough at the re-sentencing hearing added four years, making Bitzer&rsquo;s maximum sentence of five years in state prison, the same as when he was sentenced in October 2016, according to court records.
				Kostelaba recently filed a petition in court seeking a third sentencing hearing for Bitzer stating, &ldquo;It is painfully apparent that a fair and objective interpretation of the resentencing leads to the conclusion that the sentence re-imposed was the result of judicial vindictiveness in violation of Mr. Bitzer&rsquo;s due process and double jeopardy rights.&rdquo;
				Kostelaba could not be reached for comment Monday.
				Bitzer remains jailed at the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill near Harrisburg. When he is released, he is expected to be transferred to the Florida Department of Corrections on a parole violation related to a 2006 conviction of child abuse, court records say.

Inmate’s sentence challenged