CLEARFIELD – The trial got under way Thursday for the Clearfield man charged with attempted homicide following an alleged stabbing in Hyde in August of 2020.
Robert Jeffery Bailor, 49, is also charged by Clearfield-based state police with aggravated assault (two counts), terroristic threats and simple assault.
The victim, now 78, testified that he arrived home from an early-morning medical appointment sometime between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., Aug. 24, 2020.
As he got out of his vehicle at his Clarendon Avenue residence, he said Bailor – without provocation – came running towards him screaming: “leave my [expletive] family alone.”
“Then, he started stabbing me,” the victim told jurors. He suffered three abdominal wounds before falling to the ground, which is when Bailor allegedly stabbed him twice in the back of his neck.
Before he could get up, Bailor fled in his Town & Country minivan. The victim initially made his way to call for help but when he saw all the blood, he drove himself to Clearfield Penn Highlands.
Once stabilized, he was life-flighted to UPMC Altoona’s trauma center, where he remained hospitalized for 13 days following five surgical procedures.
Months prior to the stabbing, the victim said he had two other encounters with Bailor. The first occurred in a local Sheetz store, during which Bailor commented: “I’m going to get you.”
The second time, Bailor showed up at his home and the victim ordered him to leave before he called the cops. He didn’t recognize Bailor at the time but learned his identity through a third-party.
Taylor Richart, a forensic DNA scientist for the Pennsylvania State Police, said the victim’s DNA wasn’t detected in samples taken from Bailor’s clothing.
However, Richart said it couldn’t be excluded as a contributor to the DNA mixture on the hunting knife that investigators recovered from Bailor’s van.
Trooper Matthew Peacock interviewed Bailor Aug. 24, 2020 after the victim identified him as the suspect, and observed a cut on the base of his right index finger.
Initially he said Bailor claimed he was homeless and hurt his finger while cutting tree branches to make a shelter. Later he didn’t know how he got the cut.
He said Bailor went on to suggest that he couldn’t have injured his hand in the alleged stabbing because he’s right-handed and the cut was on his right index finger.
When Peacock explained how sometimes your hand slides while in a stabbing motion, Bailor continued to deny allegations and indicated that his knife had a guard on it.
Throughout the interview, Peacock said Bailor made bizarre statements and spoke of people, including the victim, putting him under hypnosis. He also spoke about the illuminati.
District Attorney Ryan Sayers is prosecuting the case for the commonwealth. Bailor is being represented by defense attorney Joshua Maines.
Bailor is using a defense of insanity or mental infirmity so jurors may also render a verdict of “guilty but mentally ill” or “not guilty by reason of insanity.”
If found “guilty but mentally ill,” there will be a hearing to decide a course of treatment; once he would finish that treatment, he would serve what Sayers expects to be a lengthy state prison term.
If found “not guilty by reason of insanity,” there will be a hearing to decide his treatment plan, and he would be committed until it’s deemed that he can safely reenter society.
While Sayers must prove Bailor’s guilt, Maines must prove Bailor’s insanity defense, and noted in his opening that a forensic psychologist has declared Bailor not guilty by reason of insanity.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. in Clearfield County Court with defense testimony, then closing arguments after which jurors will receive their instructions and be sent into deliberations.
