Why would a York County man stab and shoot his friend to death? Here’s what we know

A York County man who stabbed and shot a friend to death a year ago was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday after pleading guilty but mentally ill.

Robert Cleveland Cribb Jr., 23, has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, testimony showed Friday. Cribb pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges Friday, but prosecutors, police and Cribb’s own lawyer were not able to give a reason why Cribb brutally attacked Jerry Proctor, 44.

Cribb gave no reason, either.

Cribb apologized in court when he read from a prepared statement. Cribb said he was “very, very sorry” for the “dreadful day” where he killed Proctor.

“Please, please, forgive me,” Cribb said in court to Proctor’s family.

Still, Cribb did not give a reason in court why he attacked Proctor first with a knife, then with a shotgun.

Cribb has schizophrenia and did not have the ability to conform his conduct to the law so was ruled mentally ill at the time of the crime in August 2017, testimony showed Friday when Cribb pleaded guilty.

But Cribb legally “knew right from wrong” when he repeatedly stabbed Jerry “Sonny” Proctor at Cribb’s home near York, then grabbed a shotgun and shot Proctor in the face, said Matthew Hogge, 16th Circuit assistant solicitor.

Cribb tried to clean and cover up the crime scene before police arrived, Hogge said.

Prosecutor Willy Thompson called the killing “brutal and egregious.” Prosecutors agreed to drop the original charge of murder against Cribb to manslaughter because of his mental health problems, Thompson said, but Cribb knew killing Proctor was wrong.

Proctor was a lifelong friend of Cribb and other family members, and had come to Cribb’s home, where Cribb lived with his mother, to visit, prosecutors said.

Cribb’s lawyer, 16th Circuit Senior Assistant Public Defender Mindy Lipinski, asked that Cribb be sentenced to less than 30 years because Cribb was not capable of being “cunning” to try and cover up a crime that only happened because of his mental illness.

The day of the incident, Cribb was “overwhelmed by his emotions” and “panicked,” Lipinksi said.

Lipinski said the case could have been self-defense or “perceived” by Cribb as self-defense against Proctor.

Cribb’s family had sought to get him mental health treatment at a hospital days before the crime, but Cribb was not admitted, testimony showed.