An Allegheny County man was resentenced Friday for pedophilia and child pornography after his case was passed around the state's judicial system before landing in Butler again. In early 2014, Judge William Shaffer sentenced Ronald S. Morgan, 56, to 182 to 364 months in state prison after a jury found Morgan guilty of having more than 100 pornographic images of a young Butler County girl taken over a period of four years amid escalating sexual assaults. Morgan appealed the sentence.

Over the next six years, the case came before the state's Supreme Court, which affirmed Shaffer's sentence and sent the case back to Butler County.

The decision allowed Shaffer to resentence Morgan Friday to a nearly identical prison term of 180 to 360 months in jail. Already imprisoned, Morgan has 2,140 days of credit for time already served, according to his lawyer, public defender Joseph Smith.

Smith asked Shaffer to vacate the finding that Morgan is a sexually violent predator and await a Supreme Court decision relating to the issue.

In October, Smith argued before the state's Supreme Court against the government's right to put convicted sexual predators under a special criminal designation for life without due process. The Supreme Court decided to hear that case, Commonwealth v. Butler, after the state's Superior Court sided with Smith in a case dealing with a part of the state's Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act. The case dates to 2016, when Joseph Dean Butler pleaded guilty in Butler County court to statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors for his consensual relationship with a minor.

The state Supreme Court has not made a decision in that case, but the opening has left Pennsylvania “in a great state of flux,” Smith said Friday. Shaffer declined Smith's request.

During the hearing, Morgan said at the original trial in 2014, there was testimony he gave the underage victim alcohol and marijuana.

“I never offered this girl a drink nor any alcohol,” Morgan said. “The same goes about marijuana.”

An Eagle report at the time did not mention these substances. Instead, according to the reports, the victim testified during the 2014 trial that Morgan, who had been a friend of her mother, plied her with pricey gifts and out-of-state trips for vacations and concerts. The victim testified that Morgan took a special interest in her when she was in the sixth grade. The girl told the court the relationship escalated and eventually progressed to intercourse. “I didn't coerce or manipulate her,” Morgan said Friday. “I certainly didn't provide her with any alcohol.”

Morgan also told Shaffer there was no testimony from the trial to support one of the charges, aggravated indecent assault, of which he was found guilty. But Shaffer said the court was not taking evidence at the moment. Morgan has 10 days to appeal the resentencing.