Press release
On Thursday, February 21, 2019, Michael Finch, 39, formerly of Wyoming County and more recently of Parrish, Florida, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison by the Hon. Michael M. Mohun. He pleaded guilty to 2 counts of attempted murder first Degree on January 23, 2019.
These charges stem from a home invasion in the Town of Middlebury where the defendant attempted to cause the deaths of a 28 year old and a 13 year old male victim by repeatedly stabbing and cutting both individuals with a meat cleaver and a butcher’s knife that he had taken from the victims’ kitchen.
The defendant entered the home randomly to find food and money. The defendant had decided “he wanted to stab everyone….” Leaving the victims cut and bloodied the defendant fled the scene and disappeared into the nearby woods. After members of the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Office secured the scene and attended to the victims a brief search ensued with the defendant exiting the woods at which time he was placed into custody by Wyoming County Sheriff Greg Rudolph.
“Through the courageous actions of the victims and the quick response of the Sheriff’s Department on that tragic day in August we were able to bring a career violent criminal to justice. I am proud that the sentence imposed today should, by any rational measure, forever keep this monster in prison for the rest of his natural life. Too many sentences before this case have allowed this violent individual to get out and terrorize our communities. I would hope that with his violent past and this new conviction which involved the attempted murder of two young members of our community is enough for the parole board to keep him in prison forever. Make no mistake he was sentenced to life in prison and the only way he gets out is if someone from the parole board lets him out. The victims in this case will be affected by this heinous act for the rest of their lives. We will continue to be there for them in any capacity we can and we hope that they can move forward with their lives as quickly as possible,” said Donald G. O’Geen, Wyoming County District Attorney.