A new mental health diagnosis could impact the planned guilty plea of a 20-year-old man who admitted to killing a St. Clair woman in her home at the request of her daughter.
Robert Jack, 20, was the key witness during a weeklong trial in Westmoreland County court in February. His testimony paved the way for the first-degree murder convictions of co-defendants Melissa Sue Fox-Beacom, 51, and Matthew Bates, 20, for the Dec. 11, 2023, killing of 71-year-old Alice Robson.
Robson was shot twice in the head. Jack testified he fired the fatal shots and dragged her body out of her house and into a crawl space under her home. Witnesses testified Fox-Beacom wanted to regain custody of her disabled son from her mother, collect the child’s disability checks and move into Robson’s Furnace Lane home.
During more than two hours of testimony, Jack said Fox-Beacom and Bates asked him to kill Robson, claiming she abused Fox-Beacom’s daughter and Bates, whom the daughter was dating. He also told jurors he was offered a deal from prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge of third-degree murder and receive a sentence of 40 to 80 years in prison in exchange for his testimony.
Fox-Beacom, 51, of New Florence, and Bates, 20, of Ligonier Township, are expected to be sentenced to mandatory life prison sentences in May by Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio.
Defense attorney Ken Noga said Jack was expected to plead guilty Monday, but new information has come to light that could impact Jack’s sentence. Noga told the judge he received a report from a defense-hired psychologist who found that Jack was mentally ill on the day of the killing.
“He still plans to plead guilty, but we might seek a plea of guilty but mentally ill,” Noga said.
That plea could impact the details of Jack’s incarceration — whether he is confined to a state prison or a mental hospital operated by the Department of Corrections. It would not reduce the length of Jack’s potential sentence, Noga said.
“We just don’t know if he needs an extreme level of care in the Department of Corrections. And even if the commonwealth was to agree, we don’t yet know if he needs a higher degree of treatment,” Noga said.
He told the judge Jack is weighing the impact of a guilty but mentally ill plea, noting such a move ultimately could jeopardize when he eventually could be paroled. Assistant District Attorney Adam Barr said prosecutors have not yet evaluated Jack’s mental health as part of the plea negotiations.
The judge ordered Jack, who is being held without bail in Allegheny County Jail, and his lawyer to appear before her next month for an update on the case.