Judge rejects plea bargain in Santa Rosa homeless man's beating death

A judge said no to a plea bargain Wednesday that would have allowed a homeless man who fatally beat another man to serve a year in jail.|
PAUL PAYNE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A Sonoma County judge scuttled a plea bargain Wednesday that would have allowed a homeless man to serve one year in jail for fatally beating a second homeless man in a dispute over marijuana.

Thomas Borbeck, 21, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the May slaying of Joshua William Clark, 37, at Rae Park in Santa Rosa.

Under an agreement with prosecutors, he would serve a year in jail and complete a period of probation.

But at Borbeck’s formal sentencing, Judge Elliot Daum said he would not sign off on the deal. The maximum sentence for the charge is 11 years.

“The disposition arrived at is not one I am agreeable to,” Daum said from the bench.

He instructed both sides to return to court March 27 for possible withdrawal of Borbeck’s plea and further proceedings.

Witnesses to the deadly encounter described a one-sided fight between Borbeck and Clark in which Clark lost consciousness. He died in a hospital five days later.

- Paul Payne

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