CLEARFIELD – A man convicted of attempted homicide and other charges was sentenced to state prison Monday.
In October, Robert Jeffery Bailor, 50, who is homeless, was found guilty but mentally ill of attempted homicide, two counts of aggravated assault, simple assault and terroristic threats after a two-day trial before President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman.
The charges stem from a stabbing incident in Hyde in August of 2020 when the victim who had just pulled into his driveway, got out of his car and Bailor “came running at him” with a knife saying “don’t you ever [expletive] with my family.’
He then stabbed him in the neck and abdomen, according to the affidavit.
The victim who was 76-years-old suffered seven wounds to his neck and abdomen, which required surgery.
During the trial, an expert testified that Bailor displayed active signs of schizophrenia with impaired decision making.
He continues to exhibit symptoms including delusions, which are consistent with all of his encounters, she stated.
Her conclusion was that he should be considered insane and eligible for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
In his closing arguments, District Attorney Ryan Sayers explained that Bailor, for some reason, thought that the victim had molested and hypnotized all the children when they lived in the same neighborhood while they were kids.
It took the jury only about 20 minutes to reach the verdicts.
The mentally ill verdict requires some special consideration before sentencing can be done and after the case was scheduled in December, it was continued to allow time for Bailor to have another psychiatric evaluation.
After being continued to allow time for his defense attorney to research whether they should get their own expert or require testimony from the commonwealth’s expert, the case was discussed again in court Monday.
Sayers stated that the report done after the evaluation determined that Bailor was not “severely mentally ill” and not an appropriate candidate for a state mental facility. Instead, the expert suggested Bailor be sent to a state prison with a special mental health section.
Bailor’s new attorney, Chris Pentz, did not ask for the opportunity to question the expert and stipulated to the information in the report even though they didn’t agree with all the facts, but he said the conclusions were okay.
While Pentz said some of the charges would merge for sentencing purposes, Sayers disagreed noting the victim was stabbed multiple times.
Instead, he said the sentences for these crimes should run consecutively giving him an “appropriate” term of 30 to 60 years in state prison.
Pentz reminded the judge that the jury determined Bailor was mentally ill at the time he committed the offenses and there should be sympathy for him.
Sayers responded saying the jury also decided that Bailor knew what he was doing.
Sayers also pointed out that the victim who has since died, continued to have nightmares regarding the attack.
Ammerman sentenced Bailor to serve 14 to 28 years in a state prison for the attempted homicide and gave concurrent sentences for the other charges.
When asked later about his feelings toward the lesser sentence, Sayers said he wanted to thank the jury for their service and decision, but added he was “disappointed” with the comparatively light sentence for these egregious crimes.
