Photo by Kef O. Howard Convicted sex offender Stephen Bowers is shown Thursday before being resentenced.

GLEN DALE — Convicted sex offender Stephen J. Bowers is once again a prisoner in West Virginia and will serve the rest of his sentence. Bowers was convicted in 2003 of three counts of sexual abuse by a custodian, one count of first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of third-degree sexual abuse. The former Ohio County sheriff’s deputy had been accused of having sexual contact with boys he coached as part of the Little League program in Glen Dale. In December 2008, retiring Marshall County Circuit Judge John T. Madden, who presided over Bowers’ trial, overturned the conviction, citing that Bowers had inadequate counsel from attorney Frederick Gardner and that prejudicial statements had been made against Bowers by former prosecutor Herman Lantz. The ruling was Madden’s last act from the bench. Bowers has been out of jail since the December 2008 decision. In April, Cramer filed a petition to appeal Madden’s ruling. In the petition, Cramer claimed the court “had abused its discretion” in the case. In a 5-0 decision in June, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals granted Cramer’s petition. In February, Cramer was given 20 minutes in front of the high court in Charleston to plead his case. Cramer asked the Supreme Court judges to reverse Madden’s ruling and reinstate the 2003 conviction. Because Madden’s ruling was granted with prejudice, the state cannot prosecute the case again.