Farmington Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison Following Assault at Mental Health Facility

Farmington, Mo. (KFMO) - A Farmington man has been sentenced to prison following a violent assault at a state mental health treatment facility.

On Friday, June 5, 2026, Judge Brice Sechrest sentenced 63-year-old Pete Wright to 15 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections following his conviction on a felony charge of knowingly causing injury to a Department of Mental Health employee.

The conviction stems from a March 10 jury trial, where Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Shane Porter presented the State’s case against Wright.

During the trial, a nurse supervisor at the Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services (S.O.R.T.S.) facility in Farmington testified that she was struck in the face during an unprovoked attack by Wright while performing her duties.

Court documents indicate Wright had previously served a 30-year prison sentence following convictions in Jackson County, Mo., for forcible sodomy and felonious restraint. He was later civilly committed as a sexually violent predator and placed in the S.O.R.T.S. program under the Department of Mental Health.

At sentencing, Prosecuting Attorney Blake Dulle argued that Wright’s documented history of violent behavior warranted the maximum sentence allowed under law for the new offense.

Judge Sechrest agreed that a significant sentence was appropriate and ordered Wright to serve 15 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

With the ruling, Wright will be removed from the custody of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, where he was being held as a patient, and transferred to the Department of Corrections to serve his sentence as an inmate.