SANFORD — A Wells clergyman who was convicted of misdemeanor assault following a 2016 incident where he placed his hand on a 15-year-old girl’s back at a fast food restaurant and told her “jeans looked nice … nice and tight in all the right places,” has lost an appeal.

Peter W. Leon, 66, who has been associated with Trinity Coastal Community Church, formerly known as Wells Branch Baptist Church, had appealed his November 2017 conviction to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, contending he was denied a fair trial because one of the jurors reported that she had felt pressured to return a guilty verdict.

Leon was convicted of assault — in this case defined as offensive physical contact — following a one-day trial at York County Superior Court in Alfred. He was sentenced the following day to a suspended 60- day jail term and fined $300, subject to one year of administrative release with the conditions he have no contact with the victim or her family, and that he undergo psychological and sexual harassment counseling.

According to the decision handed up Tuesday by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, as the jury was leaving the courtroom following the 2017 trial, Leon spoke briefly to one of the jurors. The juror then told a judicial marshal that she had “gone against all of her morals in convicting this man” and that “the state had not proven the case but she could not make her fellow jurors continue with their deliberations and come back the following day.”

Although the marshal told the juror that she could contact the court the following morning to express any concerns, the juror did not, the decision states.

The next day, when the parties were in court for the sentencing, the court informed them of the juror’s statement and provided them with the marshal’s report. The state expressed its view that the report could not affect the verdict. Leon’s attorney said that she wanted to hear from the court first and “then might be heard if it seems appropriate,” according to the decision. The court announced its conclusion that there was no evidence of juror misconduct and that the guilty verdict would stand and denied Leon’s request to postpone sentencing so he could research the issue.

“The juror did not describe any external misconduct or bias by any of the jurors, or any improper external influence or information that may have affected the verdict,” the justices wrote in their 10-page decision. “Rather, the juror provided information about her own thought process and the interchange among the jurors in the jury room as they considered the evidence.”

“Pursuant to our case law and (court rules), a court may not consider juror “testimony or other evidence” about “any statement made or incident that occurred during the jury’s deliberations; the effect of anything on that juror’s … vote; or any juror’s mental processes concerning the verdict,” because such evidence—including statements made by a juror—cannot be used to impeach a verdict,” the justices further wrote.

Leon faces additional legal troubles unrelated to the Sanford assault. He entered not guilty pleas to felony and misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a dependent person along with misdemeanor criminal restraint, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and theft in December in connection with alleged exploitation of a Kennebunk woman. He is scheduled for trial on those charged in July.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.