A Butler county judge has delayed sentencing a man found guilty of attacking his Penn Township neighbor in 2017 after questions arose over his mental and physical health.

Ronald A. Postreich, 72, pleaded no contest in June to two charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and defiant trespass.

He was charged with attacking his neighbor in October 2017 with a hatchet and stun gun while disguised in a Halloween mask.

Postreich, who now lives in Gibsonia, initially was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, possessing an instrument of crime, possessing a prohibited offensive weapon and trespass.

“My first job is to protect the community and I don't know if I'm in a position to say that Postreich is not a danger to the people,” Common Pleas Judge William Shaffer said.

Assistant District Attorney Marke Lope requested Shaffer sentence Postreich to jail for “this especially brutal attack that was premeditated,”

But Postreich's lawyer, Jerry Russo, asked for a more lenient sentence of house arrest, citing his client's continual health issues and bipolar disorder diagnosis.

Shaffer rescheduled sentencing for December and ordered Postreich to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before then. He will continue to be on pretrial supervision, including an order barring him from contacting the victim, Russell Callenberg.