Last year, he walked into the bank with a cane but no disguise, displayed the loaded gun and told the teller, "I don't want to hurt you." With $4,178 in loot, he drove to a nearby motel and waited for police to arrive.

When they did, the bald, portly Unbehaun dropped his cane, raised his hands and startled police by his apparent joy at getting nabbed.

At his initial court appearance, he also confounded his lawyer.

"His first words were, 'I just want to go home," that same attorney, Richard McLeese, told the court Thursday.

For a few minutes, McLeese had thought Unbehaun was saying he hoped to get bond. Then he realized Unbehaun was asking to go to prison. It was as if, McLeese said, a patient had asked his doctor to help him have a stroke.

"It is, without a doubt, one of the saddest and most disturbing cases I've dealt with," he said.

Prosecutor Sharon Fairley conceded the judge faced a dilemma: Sending Unbehaun to prison could be seen as more reward than punishment to him, but setting him free would risk him committing another serious crime.

His case raised broader societal questions, she said in one filing.