magna cum laude. DON'T COUNT he he he
Xprsnr
Escapee asks for mercy before sentencing
Friday, April 24, 1998
By John M.R. Bull, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Inmate Thomas Berkelbaugh said his impending blindness soon will end his career
as a criminal, and he pleaded for mercy.
"I can't aim a gun with my eyesight. Driving a getaway car is out of the
question. I don't think you need to worry about it," he told the judge.
In the end, Berkelbaugh was sentenced to an additional 18 to 36 months in jail
yesterday for escaping from the State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh on
Jan. 8, 1997, with five other inmates.
All of them were later captured in Texas.
Yesterday, Judge David S. Cercone marveled at Berkelbaugh's extraordinary
history as a criminal.
"I was really astounded to see such a lengthy criminal history," Cercone said.
In fact, 22 pages of Berkelbaugh's 24-page pre-sentence report were devoted to
his criminal record.
That, Cercone said, may be "the longest report ever compiled" in Allegheny
County.
Berkelbaugh, now 48, has been in prison most of his adult life.
His first conviction came at age 14.
Thirteen convictions later -- for crimes ranging from shoplifting to assault to
bank robbery -- Berkelbaugh turned 18, and he entered the world of adult court.
Berkelbaugh was then convicted another 19 times for such things as theft,
drugs, extortion, weapons violations and robbery, and he spent years in county
jails and state prisons.
At one point, Berkelbaugh confessed to a psychiatrist that committing crimes
excited him.
"In the beginning of my life there was a certain thrill factor," he conceded
yesterday. "When I was young, there was an excitement to it."
Berkelbaugh's 17 prison misconducts show "a woefully abysmal failure to conform
to the rules of the institution," Cercone said.
That was then, said Berkelbaugh.
The future will be different, he assured the judge.
Berkelbaugh said he has lost sight in one eye, and likely will go completely
blind from glaucoma within the next six years.
Already serving a 10- to 20-year sentence for robbing a grocery store in 1985,
Berkelbaugh asked that he receive no additional prison time for escaping
because of his medical and mental condition.
Berkelbaugh's attorney, Chris Rand Eyster, argued that any additional prison
time "would be tantamount to a death sentence."
"The jury's verdict of guilty but mentally ill certainly cries out for mercy,"
he said.
Cercone did end up imposing a sentence less harsh than the maximum of 30 to 60
months allowed under state sentencing guidelines.
The judge also ordered treatment for Berkelbaugh's depression, anxiety and
panic attacks.
Deputy District Attorney Daniel Fitzsimmons said Berkelbaugh's pre-sentence
report said he may have robbed a grocery store in Dayton, Ohio, after he and
five others escaped last year.
And one escapee, convicted killer Carmen Keller, said Berkelbaugh threatened to
shoot some of his cohorts with a shotgun while they were holed up in a Texas
motel, Fitzsimmons said.
Various psychiatrists have determined that Berkelbaugh is "sophisticated, a
conniver, a leader and a manipulator," as well as a career criminal,
Fitzsimmons said.
Berkelbaugh is a college graduate with a bachelor's degree in psychology from
the University of Pittsburgh in 1984.
He was incarcerated at the time and graduated magna cum laude.
POKO wrote that
Is there an address so I can send this man flowers ?
POKO
--
Pat Keenan wrote that..
reply taking out NOSPAM
pok...@nospamhuron.net..
have a look at my webpage
www.huron.net/~pokokat
Xprsnr wrote in message <199804262116...@ladder03.news.aol.com>...
>Escapee asks for mercy before sentencing
>Berkelbaugh said he has lost sight in one eye, and likely will go
completely
>blind from glaucoma within the next six years.
>
>Berkelbaugh's attorney, Chris Rand Eyster, argued that any additional
prison
>time "would be tantamount to a death sentence."
>
Twislok
>
>Is there an address so I can send this man flowers ?
>POKO
>
>
How about a gun made out of dried bread and blackened with shoe polish (like
John D,)
MAX