Joshua Goyette

A former Butler County man, sentenced to 26 to 56 years in state prison for attempted homicide, dropped his appeal attempt in Butler County Court on Tuesday.

Joshua Goyette, 37, previously appealed to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania regarding a ruling made by county Judge William Shaffer denying his argument that his sentence was illegal.

Tuesday's hearing found Goyette abandoning this claim and dropping that appeal.

His attorney, Kenneth Harris of Jaffe & Kecskemethy, informed the court that the initial purpose of the hearing was to withdraw his appearance as attorney of record so that, at Goyette's insistence, he could proceed without an attorney. Harris was assigned to the case to help Goyette craft the appeal.

“Mr. Goyette now wishes to withdraw his appeal with the Superior Court,” he told Shaffer Tuesday.

Harris will now be filing an intent to withdraw the appeal with the Superior Court.

Goyette was convicted of attempted homicide and also pleaded guilty to assaulting multiple elderly women in the Saxonburg area after incidents in 2005.

He was sentenced on April 20, 2007, to 26 to 56 years in a state correctional institution after he pleaded guilty to numerous charges in relation to four cases, ranging from theft to indecent assault, which involved sexual assaults on elderly women. Goyette also was convicted of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and criminal mischief in the assault of 88-year-old Gertrude “Trudy” Johanson after a jury trial,

Police said Goyette broke into Johanson's first-floor apartment as she was sleeping and beat her in the head and hands with her own crystal candlestick on June 25, 2005.

During Goyette's sentencing hearing, a psychiatrist hired by the defense described the defendant as “an extremely disturbed” sociopath.

Goyette previously sought to have the sentence vacated several times, all of which were denied.