Chester man gets 25 to 50 years in 2019 shooting

A Chester man convicted of attempted murder in September for breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s house and shooting her in the abdomen in 2019 was sentenced Tuesday to 25 to 50 years in state prison .

Robert Day, 35, of the 1100 block of Upland Street, was convicted of attempted murder, aggravated assault, burglary, possession of a firearm prohibited and possession of an instrument of crime following a bench trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Cappelli.

Cappelli previously heard testimony from the victim, who said she met Day 16 years ago and they have three children together. She said Day had been abusive to her since she was pregnant with their first child and that she was afraid of him.

The final straw came in October 2018, she said, after Day threw a glass table top at her, causing injury. She sought an emergency protection-fromabuse order in January 2019, which was continued March 28, 2019, three days before the shooting.

It was about 11:30 p.m. March 31, 2019, that the victim was lying in bed with her youngest child when she said she heard glass breaking and someone running down the hallway of her home to her first-floor bedroom.

“I jumped up and there he was, pointing a gun at me, saying, ‘Since you want to do this,’ ” the victim said. “I started pleading for my life, telling him, ‘Stop, please don’t do this, think of the kids, think of the kids,’ and he shot me.”

The victim said the bullet had entered her left abdominal area, piercing her bladder, then exited her right thigh.

The woman testified that her oldest daughter, a teenager, ran into the room and tried to push Day away. He was pacing, trying to fix the gun that appeared to have malfunctioned, the victim said.

The daughter also testified that she pushed Day repeatedly to try to get him out of the room before he shot her mother again. Day pushed back but did not say anything to her, the girl said.

Upland Police Officer Timothy Ervin, who was the first to arrive on the scene, said he found glass all over the floor of the living room and a brick on the couch when he arrived. He found the victim in the kitchen, crying hysterically and holding a bloody towel to her wound. After directing paramedics to the victim, Ervin said he found a discharged projectile lying on the bedroom floor, but no shell casing.

Delaware County Detective Louis Grandizio, a firearms expert, determined the bullet was a .380 caliber. He said some models of 9 mm handguns can fire .380 rounds, but lack the pressure to properly eject the cartridge casing, resulting in a jam.

Day also testified at trial and claimed he got into a tussle with “another dude” who pulled a gun outside the house that night. He claimed a shot fired during that struggle hit the victim.

Assistant District Attorney Danielle Gallaher recommended a sentence of 32½ to 65 years, with most of the charges running consecutively. She said the scenario presented here was the “worst nightmare” in a domestic violence case.

“The defendant premeditated the murder of (the victim), although he was not successful,” Gallaher said. “He acquired a firearm for the purpose of going over there to kill her. He then went over there, broke into her house — violating a PFA order, which prohibited him from going into that house — and then shot her in the stomach, and then tried to finish the job by continuing to try to shoot the gun. But for an act of God, as well as the intervention of his 15-year-old child, the defendant would have killed (the victim).”

Defense attorney Deon Browning sought a sentence of 84 months on the attempted murder charge, with all other counts running concurrently. He argued that a presentence investigation showed Day would benefit more from a rehabilitative sentence than a punitive one.

The victim also read a prepared statement Tuesday in which she said the last good thing Day could have done for his family was offer a sincere apology to her in court. She said the family has fallen into a deep depression after the shooting and that she still struggles with physical ailments related to her wound.

The relationship wasn’t all bad, she said, but it was mostly unhealthy and she was proud of herself for being able to stand up to him in court. She added that she was always too good for Day, but she forgave him so she could move forward with her life and raise their children.

“I could have lost my life,” she said. “How selfish of you … You got to pay for what you did. Hopefully you spend most of your hideous life in jail, because if you don’t, I’ll know when you come home and I’m scared you’ll kill us all.”

In addition to prison time, Day was ordered to forfeit the firearm, provide a DNA sample to state police and have no contact with the victim or her family. He is not eligible for early release.