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Medford bank robber, carjacker gets 24 years John Eric Young Tuesday Jan 30, 2018 at 11:01 PM Jan 30, 2018 at 11:06 PM Nick Morgan Mail Tribune @mtcrimebeat A man who wreaked havoc on the grounds of a neighboring church following an east Medford bank robbery will serve a prison sentence normally reserved for homicide cases. John Eric Young, 41, was sentenced Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court to 24 years and 10 months in prison after admitting he stabbed two men — one of them in a church parking lot — while trying to obtain a getaway vehicle following a robbery at a Chase Bank branch Nov. 9. At just before 3:45 p.m. that day, Young demanded money from a teller and bank customers while armed with a sharpened screwdriver, prosecutors say. The first victim Young encountered was George Nye, who was at the teller window getting access to a safe-deposit box when Young interrupted him and ultimately tried to stab him below the rib cage. "He said, 'I'm going to stab you,' and he did try," Nye told Circuit Court Judge Tim Barnack. Paperwork in Nye's pocket, an updated will meant for the safe-deposit box, blocked the weapon. After the teller handed Young a brick of cash to get him out of the bank, Young attacked Nye again, stabbing him in the arm after he refused to give up his van keys. "I kept a scar from the incident," Nye said. In court, Circuit Court Judge Tim Barnack addressed Nye, telling him, "You are the victim, and you come first." "We all deserve to go about our daily lives and not get stabbed," Barnack said. At the neighboring First Baptist Church and Grace Christian School grounds, Young obtained a larger knife while trying to take a vehicle from groundskeepers, according to Deputy District Attorney Virginia Greer. Young then more seriously injured Richard "Tiny" Robertson, who needed five stitches after Young sliced him across the chest with the knife before taking his Chevrolet Suburban and fleeing in the SUV. Robertson did not attend the sentencing because he had a doctor's appointment, but he provided a letter read in court by Deputy District Attorney Michael Cohen. In it, Robertson called it a "crime that should not have happened," but said he's largely recovered from his injuries. "It scared my wife and also my mother, because I'm also their caregiver," the letter said. Cooperation between local police agencies led to Young's swift capture, according to details provided by Greer. The night before the robbery, Central Point police contacted Young for a welfare check in which he threatened suicide using the screwdriver. Young also wore the same clothes in the robbery that he'd worn the night before. Hours after the robbery, Jackson County Sheriff's deputies were called out to a crash in Gold Hill, in which Young crashed a vehicle into a fence while under the influence of heroin and methamphetamine, according to documents filed in the case. He had roughly $3,000 in his backpack and $700 in his pocket when sheriff's deputies tracked him down near the scene of the crash, according to Greer. Paul Moser, Young's court-appointed defense lawyer, said his client had previously tried to admit himself into Jackson County Mental Health for problems stemming from childhood traumas and stimulant and opiate use, saying his client was "not motivated by malice, but despair." Young, however, showed little emotion and said little beyond "Guilty," "Nope" and "We done?" Barnack sentenced Young to 298 months in prison — 210 of which are mandatory under Oregon's Measure 11 sentencing law — after accepting Young's guilty pleas for first-degree robbery, third-degree robbery, failing to perform the duties of a driver to an injured person, unauthorized use of a vehicle and driving under the influence of intoxicants. Young must serve 17½ years before will he be eligible for alternative incarceration programs or early release. Greer said that such a sentence is only a few months shy of the 25-year sentence typically reserved for homicides, but he called the sentence "extremely appropriate." "There were a lot of victims and a lot of damage damage done," Greer said. — Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat.