A Murrysville man was released from jail on Wednesday after being sentenced for the assault of two people last year with an aluminum baseball bat.
Reno J. Roberts, 26, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault in connection with an incident last Oct. 16 following an argument at the GetGo station on Route 22. Police said Roberts retrieved a bat from his vehicle and struck a former girlfriend and her companion with it before fleeing the scene with his mother as a passenger in his car.
Prosecutors dismissed two related counts of simple assault as part of the plea deal approved by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger.
The judge ordered Roberts to serve up to 23 months in jail but granted him immediate parole after giving him credit for the 212 days he had been incarcerated since his arrest. Roberts was ordered to serve up to one year on house arrest, a term that could be shortened to six months if he complies with the requirements of the sentence. The judge also ordered him to serve an additional five years on probation.
Roberts did not speak during his guilty plea hearing. At a preliminary hearing last year, defense attorney Edward Nicholson claimed Roberts’ actions were in self-defense and that he did not initiate the confrontation. Roberts’ victims were not present in court on Wednesday.
Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Mains said neither victim responded to attempts to notify them about the plea deal.
Krieger also revoked Roberts’ probation for a previous simple assault conviction and sentenced him to serve another year on probation in that case, from 2023, in which police said he punched his mother in the face after she referred to him by his name while shopping at a Murrysville grocery store.
According to court records, Roberts’ mother told police her son did not like to be called by his first name and later described another incident in which she said he displayed paranoid behavior and smashed items in her home with a baseball bat.