Dec 21, 2004 By Jennifer Harr 2 min read

Richard Babick wished the victim of his Nov. 30, 2002, attack well Monday, as he apologized in court for his actions. “I do feel guilty for what happened,” Babick told Fayette County Judge Ralph C. Warman. “I lost my job and my family over this.”

He told the jurist, who sentenced him to nine to 20 years in jail for aggravated assault, that he hoped Paul Long “is able to recover properly” from the beating Babick inflicted.

Earlier this month, jurors convicted Babick, 30, of Champion of attacking Long with a knife outside of Sidewinders Bar in Connellsville. At his trial, Babick testified that he used a small, tube-shaped metal key chain to hit Long, and only did so once or twice and after he was struck first.

Long testified that Babick attacked him from behind and stabbed him repeatedly, even after Long got inside a car to leave the parking lot by the bar.

After he got away from Babick, Long testified he immediately went to Highlands Hospital, and blacked out due to loss of blood. It took numerous stitches and staples to close the wounds to his body, according to testimony.

Warman told Babick that he was lucky that Long was not more seriously injured, noting that the stabbing “could have easily turned into a homicide.” In deciding Babick’s sentence, the jurist said he also took into consideration Babick’s prior record, which stretched back to the early 90s and included juvenile offenses.

Before sentencing, Babick’s attorney, deputy public defender Thomas Shaffer, asked Warman to consider that Babick has been cooperating with the state attorney general’s office in several “very important” criminal cases.

First Assistant District Attorney Joseph M. George Jr. represented the commonwealth.