Robert Delisle, better known as the Dear Libby Stalker, was brought before a judge yesterday afternoon to review a plea deal between his lawyers and the Emerson Valley District Attorney’s Office. The judge ultimately decided to accept the deal, in which Mr. Delisle will plead guilty to the charges of stalking and harassment of Elizabeth Barton (Dear Libby) in exchange for the DA dropping another related charge and allowing him to be held at a mental health facility indefinitely in lieu of jail time.

Although many of Dear Libby’s fans and supporters were furious at the outcome, Mr. Delisle will be confined to the mental health facility for a minimum of ten years before he is eligible for parole. If the case had gone to trial and he was convicted, he would have been eligible for parole from prison in only seven years.

“The District Attorney’s Office is satisfied with the terms of the plea deal,” said ADA Jennifer Defoe. “The court-appointed psychiatrist who evaluated Mr. Delisle made the recommendation, and our office agreed with them based on what was discovered during the evaluations.”

Mr. Delisle was allegedly suffering from extreme delusions bordering on a complete break with reality. During police interviews following his arrest, he insisted that his victim was psychically communicating with him through her Sunday column in the Gazette.

“He was really whacked out,” said Emerson Valley Sheriff’s Department Deputy Gregory Stoller. “He kept saying he could hear her in his head, and that he always knew when she was talking to him in her articles since they’d sound just like she did in his head. Just real nutjob kinda stuff.”

Prior to his arrest in early June, Mr. Delisle was an employee of the city morgue, working as their night manager. His supervisor, Emerson Valley coroner Dr. Andrea West, was shocked when the Sheriff’s Department descended on the morgue to seize the computer terminal where Mr. Delisle carried out many of his stalking activities. The related charge dropped by the DA as part of the plea deal was a misuse of city resources charge stemming from what was discovered on his work computer.

“That doesn’t sound like the Bobby I know,” Dr. West said at the time. “There must be some kind of mistake. He’s a total sweetheart. He’s gone camping with my family, for Pete’s sake!” When asked for comment following his conviction, she told the Gazette, “If he pled guilty, I guess it’s true. It’s still hard to believe.”

Mr. Delisle will be moved from the Emerson Valley Jail to the psych ward at St. Benedict’s Hospital later this week. He will be held at the hospital until such time that he can be transferred to a suitable mental health facility for the duration of his sentence. As the ordeal of her stalker winds down, Mrs. Barton was in good spirits.

“I’m just so relieved, you know?” she said as she left the courthouse following her deposition for the hearing. “I feel like I can finally breathe again now that it’s over. I just hope Mr. Delisle can now get the help he needs so he never puts anyone else through what he put me through.”

-Sarah Donovan, Editor & Local News, Emerson Valley Gazette