Robert Tester Jr., 40, pleaded guilty to the same charge earlier this month and is scheduled to be sentenced June 22. The last of the trio, Kyle Peck, was scheduled to go to trial May 26, but entered a guilty plea Monday to aggravated burglary. He will also be sentenced June 22.
The men are charged with breaking through a glass window at Elmon Booth’s house in the 3200 block of Finley Street on Oct.6.
Booth was seated in the front row of the courtroom Monday, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. He told the judge, “they need to be off the streets.”
Bumgardner did offer an apology before sentencing, stating he did not know the assault was going to happen.
“When I realized what was happening, I did what I could to get him (Tester) off of him,” Bumgardner said.
Bumgardner’s attorney, David Washington, told the judge that his client was not the primary offender in the attack, noting DNA from Booth was found on the outside of Tester’s gloves.
“I don’t want the court to consider him or punish him as the primary offender,” Washington said.
Bumgardner’s terminally ill mother, Deborah Sandlin, also sat in the front row of the courtroom. She sobbed as she told the judge, “I raised him to respect his elders.”
After the hearing, Booth turned to Sandlin and hugged her and said, “I am sorry about this.”
Booth said all three were participants in his assault.
“He could have gotten more,” Booth said.
Middletown police and prosecutors say the men indicated they planned to steal a four-wheeler in West Middletown, but when that fell through they returned to Middletown where Tester began kicking the back door of Booth’s house. He then picked up a brick and threw it, striking Booth.
Peck and Bumgardner took Booth’s television, a can of change and his hearing aids, police said. The men sold the 24-inch television for heroin, according to police.
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