MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO — A 38-year-old Loxahatchee man was sentenced to one year in prison and four years probation after taking a plea deal of felony battery with great bodily harm in connection to a road-rage incident in May.
On Friday, Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Gillen sentenced Robert Lee Harris who had taken the plea deal before the scheduled jury trial on Thursday. He had been charged with one count of attempted murder.
He was credited with 112 days of time at the Palm Beach County Jail in West Palm Beach.
Shortly after 10:50 p.m. May 18, a woman called 911 and said her boyfriend had been shot during a road-rage incident, and a 3-year-old child was with them. He was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center and was interviewed by Palm Beach Sheriff's Office investigators before going into surgery after gunshots to the left arm pit and shoulder area.
The family members, who are not identified, were traveling in a "side by side" utility task vehicle southbound on B Road.
His girlfriend said a white camper truck traveling in the opposite direction swerved into their lane to force it into the canal along the road.
The victim turned his vehicle around to follow the suspect, and they came to a stop outside the front gate to the suspect's residence in the 3300 block of B Road, investigators learned. The victim said he approached Harris to ask why he swerved into their lane.
The victim's girlfriend believes Harris unsuccessfully tried to swing at the victim.
Harris later told deputies that the victim punched him in the head and face three times tough deputies didn't evidence consistent with that claim.
Then the victim's girlfriend heard two gunshots.