A man convicted in 2007 of raping three children wants a new trial because, he argues, his attorney failed to keep him updated on the appeal process.

But Schuylkill County President Judge William Baldwin pointed out that the convict, Russell R. Rehrig, had been on the lam throughout the entire 30-day appeal period.Rehrig was convicted on Sept. 5, 2007, of raping three children, two of whom were developmentally delayed, in Tamaqua and Allentown, and threatening to kill their parents if they told.According to court documents and testimony, Rehrig assaulted the children for a year between August 2004 and August 2005. One child finally told a relative what had happened. That relative went to police.Out on $15,000 bail at the time, Rehrig fled before his trial, and was convicted in absentia of child rape and numerous related charges, and sentenced, also in absentia, to 42 to 84 years in prison.He was caught in September 2008, after hiding out in an Atlantic City, New Jersey, parking garage.Thursday's hearing had been continued from March 12.At that hearing, Rehrig testified his trial lawyer, public defender Christopher Riedlinger, also had not been effective.After listening to testimony from Rehrig and his wife yesterday, Baldwin gave Rehrig's defense lawyer until April 9 to file written arguments on the matter, and Assistant District Attorney John Fegley until April 20.Rehrig, cuffed, shackled, and clad in drab prison green, sat next to his wife, Janice Horvath Rehrig.Defense lawyer Michael J. Fiorillo called the couple to testify.Rehrig, now 58, testified that he wrote to Thomas Pellish, the lawyer appointed to handle his appeal, about five times during the five years Pellish represented him.But, Rehrig said, he never heard back. After a few years, Rehrig filed a complaint with the state Disciplinary Board.Under questioning by Fegley, Rehrig said he could not recall the exact date he filed the complaint.He also could not say for sure copies of the letters presented by Fiorillo were the ones he had written.Horvath Rehrig, of Allentown, testified that she also had written to Pellish.She could not provide a copy of her letter, and said the copies of the letters her husband had written to him had been lost.Horvath Rehrig said she also had called Pellish to talk about progress on the appeal, and once went to his office.She testified that Pellish told her an appeal "would be tough" but that he would read the transcripts from Rehrig's trial.Janice Rehrig said she called Pellish "many times.""I'm trusting him," she said. "I don't know what the time limits (to appeal) are."The period for Rehrig to appeal to state court was 30 days after his sentencing.She testified that after two years, Pellish told her he "wanted to try one more thing" and to give him a week."I gave him a week," Janice Rehrig said. "Then I gave him another week."She said the couple "never got any kind of contact back from him."Janice Rehrig said Pellish never "outright and straightforward" said there was nothing he could do, but "implied" it was tough case.Pellish did not testify.Following the testimony, Fiorillo told Baldwin that Pellish had not filed an appeal, nor did he tell Rehrig he had no right to one.Baldwin said the testimony failed to show Pellish acted with prejudice.He also said that by the time Rehrig was apprehended, the appeal period had run out.