CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – An application for reargument filed by Clarion County Domestic Relations has been dismissed by the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

The Application for Reargument pressed for the court to take a second look at a recent ruling by the Pennsylvania Superior Court on a case which made it illegal for judges to impose suspended sentences for civil contempt.

The Order Dismissing the Application for Reargument indicates that the application was dismissed due to being filed in an untimely manner. The application was due by Tuesday, May 22, within fourteen days from the decision filed on May 8. Documents show that the application was filed on Wednesday, May 23.

In the original case, Thompson vs. Thompson, Clarion County resident Ashley Thompson successfully argued to the Superior Court that her six-month jail term for falling behind on her monthly child-support payment as part of an indefinitely suspended sentence handed down to her by a Clarion County judge was illegal.

Thompson’s lawyer, John P. (Jack) Troese of Clarion told The Legal Intelligencer after the ruling was handed down that he believes the kind of agreement Thompson entered into — an agreement which imposed a suspended sentence for civil contempt — was “widespread” in Clarion County.

Troese compared the system to a “debtor’s prison” where people were incarcerated for their inability to pay arrears and had no real recourse to challenge those determinations.

After the ruling, another ten inmates were released from the Clarion County Jail, as well.

In surrounding counties, including Venango and Jefferson, officials say no other inmates have been released based on the ruling, which apparently came as no surprise Troese, who said the Clarion County situation is “abnormal” across the state.