CLEARFIELD – A state prison inmate will be spending additional time in state prison for assaulting a corrections officer.
Mark Anthony Johnson, 29, pleaded guilty recently in Clearfield County Court to aggravated assault and was sentenced by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to two to four years in state prison.
This sentence will run consecutive to the five- to 10-year sentence he is currently serving from 2013 for aggravated assault.
Prior to sentencing, Johnson admitted he made a mistake and said that he regretted his actions. He asked the judge to run his sentences concurrently.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, in May of 2014 a trooper investigated an assault on a corrections officer by an inmate at SCI Houtzdale. While at Penn Highlands Clearfield, the CO told police that Johnson was complaining about not getting enough phone time.
The CO told him that happened before his shift began and it was now time to lock up. Johnson became irate. The officer ordered him several times to lock up in his cell before Johnson walked to his cell.
Once there, the CO ordered Johnson to secure the door and he refused. When the CO walked over to the cell to secure it himself, Johnson pushed the door open and began to strike the CO in the face with a closed fist. The CO wrestled Johnson to the ground and held him until help arrived.
The victim had red marks on his forehead and right cheek. He also had several lacerations on the inside of his lower lip that were deep and appeared to have come from his teeth.
Video surveillance footage showed Johnson attacking the victim.