Allegheny County judge sends rapist, most 'dangerous' defendant he's faced, to prison for 49 years

It was all about control.

The victim said that James Byrd always wanted to control her — when they dated on and off for years while he was in and out of prison, and more than a dozen years after that when he raped her.

The prosecutor, too, said that the defendant has “an obviously insatiable need to exert control over everyone and everything in his life.”

The judge agreed.

“In all my years on the criminal bench, I don’t think I’ve ever come across any more dangerous or violent man than James Byrd,” Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Alexander P. Bicket said in imposing sentence Tuesday. “His behavior today was another attempt to manipulate the criminal justice system.”

He then ordered Byrd to serve 49 to 98 years in prison.

“I believe this world would be a better place not having Mr. Byrd on the streets,” Bicket said.

Byrd, dressed in a white T-shirt and red Allegheny County Jail pants, sat at the defense table, answering the judge’s questions politely and speaking quietly to defense attorney Thomas N. Farrell.

But within a few minutes, it was clear the sentencing would not proceed without disruption.

Byrd, who was recently removed from his own trial in federal court after assaulting his lawyer and threatening to urinate on the courtroom floor, had refused to participate in a video interview for the pre-sentence investigation in the rape case. And when the report was completed, he refused to read it.

The defendant, 45, told the judge that his conditions of confinement at the jail are such that his mental health has suffered since he was convicted in December of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and related crimes.

Byrd said he is being held in a mental health observation unit where he is watched 24 hours per day and not permitted any of his court paperwork to assist on his case.

But Bicket was not swayed, telling Byrd that the conditions he faces at the jail are a result of his own conduct.

The judge instructed the prosecution to call its first witness. But when the victim’s husband took the stand, Byrd asked to be removed.

As the judge attempted to reason with Byrd, eight sheriff’s deputies who had already been surrounding the defense table moved in closer, donning black gloves.

“I’m not in a sound state of mind right now to endure this,” Byrd told the court. “I’m telling you I need psychiatric care.”

The defendant then stood abruptly, prompting five deputies to move in, their hands on him.

They ordered Byrd to sit, but he refused.

“What you gonna do? Kill me?” Byrd shouted.

“Mr. Byrd, nobody’s trying to hurt you,” Bicket said from the bench.

The defendant then turned toward the victim’s husband, who had moved to the back of the courtroom, and began shouting at him, prompting the deputies to try to force Byrd to face front, their hands on his neck and head.

Finally, the defendant stood still.

“I’m not participating,” Byrd said. “Whatever time you want to impose, do it. I don’t care what you do.”

Eventually, the deputies led him out of the courtroom, and the proceeding continued without him.

The victim testified that she met Byrd when she was 16 and that they dated on an off for years.

TribLive does not name victims of sexual assault.

“I, literally, let him take control of my mind, heart, body and soul,” she said Tuesday. “He always controlled everything that I did.”

Their relationship ended, according to testimony at trial, in 2002, when Byrd kicked in the door of her home, held her at gunpoint and broke her jaw.

She didn’t see him for 12 years — he was in prison — until he returned to the Pittsburgh area in spring 2015.

She testified that Byrd forced himself into the home she shared with her now-husband, intimidating both of them.

For a month, she testified, Byrd controlled everything she did, choked her and made her have sex with him.

Then, one night, in May 2015, he raped her while she was unconscious — having taken medication to help her sleep because of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Byrd recorded the assault on video and then showed it to the victim and her now-husband the next day.

It took nearly nine years for the case to go to trial. When it did, Byrd testified in his own defense, claiming that there was no assault.

The jury didn’t buy it, convicting him on all counts.

On Tuesday, the victim told the court that Byrd has threatened her from jail and had others relay threats on his behalf.

“He has done everything to me but kill me,” she said. “I’m standing here for all of the victims he had out there, people who were afraid to stand up to him.”

She urged the judge to give Byrd the maximum sentence.

“I hope you understand he’ll never change, and every time he comes home, he comes home worse,” she said. “He will kill me.”

Assistant District Attorney Alexa Roberts recounted for the court Byrd’s criminal history and background, including a 14-year prison term in Ohio for kidnapping and assault.

He is currently serving a life sentence plus 20 years in federal court for a drug and gun conviction.

Multiple cases against him had to be withdrawn by prosecutors because witnesses were afraid to testify against him, she Roberts said.

During his incarceration, he has been found to be malingering — or faking mental illness — repeatedly, and he refuses to participate in mental health evaluations or treatment.

During his trial before Bicket, the case was postponed in the middle because Byrd swallowed two batteries and had to be hospitalized.

He has multiple misconducts in the jail, Roberts said, repeatedly causes conflict with staff and has a history of escapes and evading arrest.

“He is, in every possible way, extremely disruptive and has been throughout his incarceration at Allegheny County Jail,” she said.

Roberts asked the judge to stack the punishment for each charge against Byrd consecutively — the equivalent of a life sentence — which Bicket ordered.

“Mr. Byrd has engaged in heinous, violent criminal activity for every period of freedom he has ever enjoyed in his entire life,” she said. “He is absolutely incapable of refraining from criminal activity.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the circumstances surrounding James Byrd’s removal from a federal courtroom.