By DEN MCLAUGHLIN

dmclaughlin@tnonline.comConvicted former Coaldale mayor Richard Corkery filed a petition on Friday with the Carbon County Clerk of Courts office to have his bail continued incident to him appealing his conviction on 27 counts of child pornography.Attorney Nicholas Quinn filed a petition for "post-verdict bail pursuant to Pennsylvania rule of criminal procedure 521(b)."The petition states that Corkery, 75, of Coaldale, seeks the continuation of bail after verdict "pending the perfection and subsequent exhaustion of appeal."On Sept. 16, Judge Steven R. Serfass sentenced Corkery to serve nine to 36 months in a state correctional institution followed by three years of state probation.Nesquehoning police charged Corkery with viewing child pornography on a computer at his then employer's offices, radio station WLSH.Corkery denied viewing the pornography stating the images would "pop up" when he went to the website of his former high school in Philadelphia.However, during testimony presented by the commonwealth, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, John Bates, said Corkery admitted viewing the child pornography while the agent and police were at his Coaldale residence. Also, a state police computer expert, Trooper Paul Iannace, testified he examined the computer in question and found "thousands" of porn sites.On June 12, a county jury convicted Corkery of all 27 criminal counts of sexual abuse of children-possession/viewing of child pornography.Corkery is scheduled to report to the county prison on Oct. 10 at 9 a.m. to begin his sentence.Corkery has been free on unsecured bail with electronic monitoring since Oct. 6, 2011.According to the petition, Corkery has had no incidents while free on bail and is not a flight risk nor is a danger to other persons, the community, or himself.The petition asks Serfass to continue the bail as established before the verdict. Conditions include that Corkery remaining on electronic monitoring.Serfass will have to act on the petition. He can grant the petition as filed and let Corkery remain free on the same bail as before the trial, or he can set new bail, or he can reject the petition.As of presstime, a hearing had not been scheduled to address the petition.