September 8, 2010
By Jan Skutch
A former Savannah College of Art and Design student pleaded guilty to elder abuse and related charges Tuesday in the 2007 assault on a 77-year-old man.
Randolph John Bernard Jr., 24, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, pleaded guilty as being in his best interest to charges of elder abuse, aggravated assault, arson and criminal damage to property.
Charges stemmed from the Aug. 2, 2007, attack on Omar Boone, 77, as he walked his Lhasa Apso on 33rd Street between Lincoln and Abercorn streets.
The attack followed a racial and gender epithet aimed at Boone by co-defendant Mitchell Barefield, evidence showed.
The case remains pending against Barefield, 22, who prosecutors contend was the main aggressor in the attack.
He is next scheduled for court in October.
Assistant District Attorney Nathanael Wright recommended a sentence of 10 years with five to serve for the crimes, but Chatham County Superior Court Chief Judge Perry Brannen Jr. ordered a pre-sentencing investigation before imposing punishment.
No sentencing date was scheduled.
"It's a hard decision so I'm going to seek some help," Brannen said.
He said the case was not "our run of the mill case. (Bernard) definitely owes something. It's a question of what he owes."
Boone, a Marine during the Korean conflict, told Brannen he was walking his dog about 10:30 p.m. when Barefield hollered across the street, referring to him in disparaging names.
When Boone asked what had been said, Barefield knocked him down.
Bernard then jumped in and both kicked him as he lay on the street, Boone said.
Boone fought back with his cane before someone told the assailants to leave him alone, Boone said.
He had gotten out of the hospital two weeks earlier and needed to use the cane, he said.
Barefield used the slurs, threw the first punch and knocked him to the ground, Boone told Wright.
His dog ran off in the attack and was not found until the next day several blocks away, Boone said.
"I knew that both of them were kicking me, both of them," Boone told defense attorney Tom Withers.
In court, the defendant apologized to Boone and a second victim, Michelle Gallagher.
Her car was torched by Bernard sometime after the attack on Boone, evidence showed.
"Three years ago I made a terrible judgment choice," he read from a prepared statement,
Bernard's father, Randolph Bernard, an assistant U.S. attorney in West Virginia, testified his son is dealing with mental health issues, substance abuse problems and alcohol addiction.
"It was clear there were issues," the senior Bernard said as he fought back tears.
Those issues surfaced in January 2007, he said.
"It wasn't the person I raised," he told Brannen.
But, on cross examination by Wright, the federal prosecutor conceded his son should take responsibility for his actions.
The defendant was suspended by SCAD officials following the charges and remains in that status, the senior Bernard said.
SOURCE: Savannah Now
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