Brian McCutchen, who had served seven months in prison for a similar attack on a 9-year-old in 2000, also pleaded guilty to six other charges, including aggravated assault and indecent exposure, the Associated Press reported May 26. He faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 50 to 100 years in prison at his September 1 sentencing.
The victim, who had been visiting the library February 7 with her grandmother and two other children, was hospitalized in critical condition. She has since been released, according to the AP.
McCutchen, who had come to Philadelphia from Colorado about three years ago, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, according to his lawyer, Everett Gillison. “He was one of the people that I’m sure a lot of people pass on the street every day, and that we as a society don’t acknowledge until something terrible happens,” Gillison told the AP.
Posted May 28, 2004; revised February 23, 2005.