A Lancaster city man serving decades in prison for repeatedly raping a child will get no relief.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court denied Lazaro Abreu-Suset’s appeal, deciding the state-prison inmate’s argument is too late and has no merit.

Abreu-Suset, now 49, was convicted by a jury in 2009 of 10 sex crimes, including child rape, regarding a two-year cycle of sex abuse from 2005 to 2007. The victim was 11 when the abuse began at a Lancaster city home.

In March 2010, Lancaster County Judge Howard Knisely sentenced Abreu-Suset to 16 to 35 years in state prison.

Abreu-Suset’s appeal is based on an argument that the judge ordered mandatory minimum prison terms as part of the sentence. The appeal leans on a 2014 high-court ruling that deems mandatory minimum sentences “unconstitutional.”

However, the state Superior Court notes in an 8-page opinion released Tuesday afternoon, that ruling doesn’t affect past cases already sentenced and denied on appeal – such as Abreu-Suset’s.

The high court agreed with Assistant District Attorney Trista M. Boyd, who argued, Abreu-Suset’s appeal is too late because it was filed more than a year after denial of his initial appeal in 2011.

Lancaster city police Detective Jimmy Mummau filed charges in the case.

MEDIA CONTACT: Brett A. Hambright, 717-295-2041; bhambright@co.lancaster.pa.us;                           Twitter: @BrettHambright