Joshua Goyette, 37, attempted to argue in Butler County Court that because of new evidence and the semantics of the attempted homicide charge, it should be vacated. Goyette is currently serving a convicted homicide charge from 2007.

A man sentenced to 26 to 56 years in state prison in 2007 after being convicted of attempted homicide and pleading guilty to assaulting multiple elderly women in the Saxonburg area argued that the sentence was illegal in Butler County Court on Tuesday.

Joshua Goyette, 37, attempted to argue that because of new evidence and the semantics of the attempted homicide charge, it should be vacated.

County Judge William Shaffer took the arguments under advisement and will issue an order later. A court order was previously delivered on Oct. 12, 2016, to dismiss the petition without a hearing because it was deemed untimely and that the court lacks jurisdiction, but an attorney was appointed to represent Goyette with an amended petition.

Goyette's attorney, Kenneth Harris, of Jaffe & Kecskemethy PC, argued that the relief filing hinges on two arguments, one involving Goyette's mother, as well as the intent of the crime.

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