Paul Harper

A 72-year-old Portersville man leaned on his walker Tuesday as a Butler County judge accepted his plea of guilty but mentally ill for attempted criminal homicide.

Paul Harper pleaded guilty in March to shooting at Christopher Galbreath in early July 2017 over the sale of a Ford. He has remained in Butler County Prison since his arrest on July 4, 2017.

Harper's lawyer, Laurel Gift, requested in June that Judge William Shaffer change his client's guilty plea to guilty but mentally ill. While the designation doesn't change sentencing guidelines, it allows Harper to get a mental health treatment evaluation before sentencing.

Shaffer accepted the designation but refused to sentence Harper before an evaluation was made on his mental state. Assistant District Attorney Robert Zanella previously objected to the altered designation, but made no further arguments Tuesday.

“I still have all the sentencing options before me. The only difference is that I need to determine if you need treatment,” Shaffer said.

If he is determined to still be suffering from a mental illness, Shaffer will have the option to send Harper to Torrance State Hospital in Chestnut Ridge to serve his sentence. Alternatively, a determination to send him to a regular state prison can be made. Zanella noted that state prisons have the capacity to treat people for mental illnesses.

Shaffer added he would sentence Harper after a mental health assessment is made either at the county jail or a state Department of Corrections facility. The plea deal between prosecutors and the defense doesn't specify terms of Harper's punishment, and defers the decision to Shaffer.

On Tuesday, Shaffer said the sentencing guideline's maximum range is 81 months of incarceration.

As part of his plea, Harper admitted going to the Perry Highway home of Christopher and Debra Galbreath on July 3, 2017, with a shotgun and shooting Christopher Galbreath in the arm. Galbreath survived and was transported to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

After being arrested, Harper confessed to the police that he shot Galbreath. The entire exchange was recorded in a trooper's vehicle. Harper told police he was enraged to learn Galbreath was selling a Ford car for $30,000 after Harper had sold him the car for $5,500.

When Harper was first sent to jail, he went on a hunger strike in an attempt to end his life, according to forensic psychologist Bruce Chambers, who was hired by the defense team to diagnose Harper earlier this year.

Based on Chambers' report, Shaffer concluded at the time of the shooting, “the defendant, as a result of a mental defect, lacked the substantial ability to conform his conduct to the law.”