Man who fled during trial gets 28 years for attacking camper

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities say a 44-year-old Prescott man who fled in 2019 while on trial for a brutal attack on a camper the previous year has been sentenced to 28 years in prison after being apprehended in Payson in late July. Robert David Pearsall III was out on bond when he absconded two days before jurors in his Yavapai County Superior Court trial on attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault charges returned guilty verdicts. The events leading to his conviction occurred in September 2018 when Pearsall struck the victim on the head multiple times with a large board in a remote camping area near Perkinsville. A judge sentenced him Wednesday.