A Spring Creek man serving a state prison sentence for a “sucker punch” that resulted in the victim landing unconscious in a fire has had a petition for post-conviction relief denied.

Jordan D. Cooke, 33, currently at SCI Rockview in Centre County, was sentenced in March 2022 to 60 to 120 months incarceration on an aggravated assault charge.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Cooke and about 13 other people were at a party early in the morning of Jan. 31, 2021, at a Jackson Run Road residence. The alleged victim reported that he was standing near a fire talking at about 1 a.m. when he was struck on the right side of his jaw.

He “awoke as he was lying on the ground next to the fire with his clothes singed and a sore jaw,” according to the affidavit. He said he “began spitting large quantities of blood” when he stood up.

Other witnesses told police that Cooke had approached the victim from behind and punched him in the jaw, according to the affidavit.

The victim said he had not met Cooke before that date and that he had spoken with him in a “friendly manner” at the party, according to the affidavit. He “was dumbfounded as to why Cooke assaulted him.”

A witness, who told police he attempted to hold off Cooke, told police that Cooke “yelled something to the extent of ‘That’s what you get for talking to my old lady,'” the affidavit states.

Cooke claimed in a hearing Friday afternoon before Judge Gregory Hammond that his counsel, Assistant Public Defender Francis Waweru, was “not comfortable” going to trial and claimed that he didn’t file an appeal on his behalf.

Waweru said he tried to withdraw from the case prior to the trial because Cook “was unwilling to participate in the case” and Waweru was “chasing him around.”

Kept on the case, Waweru said Cooke participated and said Cooke “didn’t say anything” about filing an appeal.

“I didn’t see any reasonable defenses we could raise on appeal,” Waweru said.

Representing Cooke, Alan Conn raised several potential sources of ineffectiveness, including whether Cooke’s conduct showed “extreme indifference to the value of human life,” a requirement to meet the aggravated assault charge.

District Attorney Rob Greene said Waweru did a good job “with what he had” but Conn argued that there was a “reasonable probability” of a different outcome if Waweru had acted differently.

Hammond rejected those assertions.

“Mr. Waweru’s version of events makes sense,” he said, calling Waweru’s strategy “not a bad strategy in this case.”

Hammond called Cooke’s punch a “sucker punch.

“There aren’t a lot of good defenses to that,” he said.

He then dismissed the petition and told Cooke that he has 30 days to appeal that decision.