DOVER-FOXCROFT – An elderly man who pleaded guilty to attempted murder for attacking his adult son with a crowbar because of his sexual preference was sentenced Wednesday in Piscataquis County Superior Court.

Frank Buble, 71, who had pleaded guilty in December to attempted murder and elevated aggravated assault, was sentenced to eight years with the Department of Corrections, with all but nine months suspended, on each of the two counts.

Buble will begin serving both sentences concurrently today at the Piscataquis County Jail. He also was placed on probation for six years with special conditions, including making restitution of up to $10,000. He also was ordered to undergo psychological counseling.

Formerly of Parkman and now of Dover-Foxcroft, Buble was convicted of trying to kill his son, Phillip Buble, 44, an admitted zoophile, or person who has a sexual attraction to animals.

The elder Buble struck his son several times with a crowbar on Sept. 13, 1999, at the Parkman home the two men shared. The younger Buble, who suffered a broken arm and had to have 63 stitches to his head and face, incurred $6,816 in medical expenses.

“I know what I did was wrong and I’m sorry,” the elder Buble said Wednesday in court. Standing before presiding Justice Andrew Mead, Buble said he was living a nightmare before the incident and said a lack of sleep and his son’s behavior had “pushed him over the edge.”

Although he did not attend the sentencing, Phillip Buble earlier presented the court with a rambling four-page statement. Most of it pertained to his being a zoophile.

Contacted by telephone at his Parkman home after the sentencing, Phillip Buble repeated what he said after his father pleaded guilty in December, that he didn’t think his father needed jail time, but psychological counseling. He also said he was pleased the court ordered the counseling.

Phillip Buble also said he was “denied his right” to attend the hearing because of poverty. He said he had called the District Attorney’s Office and asked for a ride to court, but his request was denied.

The younger Buble also had asked the court to allow his dog, a 36-pound, shorthaired mixed breed, which he also has referred to as his “significant other” and his “wife,” to be present during the sentencing. That request was denied Tuesday by Justice Mead.

During Wednesday’s hearing, defense attorney Randy Day of Garland painted a picture of the circumstances that exhausted Frank Buble’s patience nearly two years ago.

Day said that in September 1999, the relationship between father and son had deteriorated and that Frank Buble hadn’t slept well during that period.

Frank Buble, retired from the aerospace industry and a pilot, had been paying all the household expenses on his fixed income, Day said. The elderly man was tired of his son’s being on the computer each night and of his son’s attempt to get his father to advocate zoophilia to the parents of young children with whom Phillip Buble was conferring over the Internet and via telephone calls.

Phillip Buble also made it a point to tell Frank Buble’s pilot friends about his sexual preference and that disturbed the elder Buble greatly, Day said.

The attorney said Frank Buble tried to be tolerant, but Phillip Buble would threaten legal action when things didn’t go his way. To support that statement, Day produced a two-page letter written by Phillip Buble to his father in which he was critical of his father’s lack of upkeep and improvements to the house.

In the written letter, Phillip Buble, who is unemployed, had advised his father that he no longer intended to spend time arguing with him about repairing damaged light switches, watering the damaged lawn or repairing damaged ceiling fans.

Instead, he wrote, “I’m just going to haul your sorry ass into court each time you do this until you learn your lesson.”

Day said Phillip Buble’s attitude, the elderly man’s lack of sleep and the fact Frank Buble came home one day to find his son French-kissing the pet dog were too much to bear. And he made a mistake, the defense attorney said.

Two of Frank Buble’s friends testified Wednesday that the elderly man was no threat to society. Buble’s other child, daughter Sharon Apolan of Georgia, had forwarded a letter to the court relating the good her father has done in his lifetime.

Day said his client had been forthright in contacting the police after the incident and by pleading guilty to the crimes. He noted that Buble had been out on bail for 15 months without any trouble.

The attorney asked the court to impose a sentence of five years with all but nine months suspended. He cited a report filed by probation officer Steve Kane that suggested that two years in jail or less would be an appropriate sentence.

The state had sought a sentence of 18 years in prison on the two charges, with all but five years suspended.

Before the sentence was handed down, Piscataquis County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy noted to the court that “the horrendous nature of the attack should not be forgotten, because the injuries to Phillip Buble were significant.”

In the end, Mead took into consideration the severity of the crime, the mitigating and aggravating circumstances, Frank Buble’s age and his lack of a past criminal history.

“We can’t undercut the severity,” Mead said.

There are no laws in Maine against bestiality, though one bill is now before the Legislature to make such behavior a crime punishable by a fine up to $10,000. The Maine Animal Control Association maintains that there were six animal sex abuse cases last year in Maine.

Almy later said, “It’s a fair sentence, and it’s reasonable.”

Outside the courtroom, Frank Buble said he thought the sentence was just.

“I feel it was a correct decision; I’ll serve my time and do my duty to the public,” he said with a big smile on his face.