Nov 20, 2008 6:13 am US/Eastern
Ex-Penn Prof Gets 5-10 Years In Wife's Slaying
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) ―
A former Ivy League professor was sentenced Wednesday to five to 10 years in prison for fatally beating his wife with a chin-up bar while she wrapped Christmas presents in their kitchen.
Rafael Robb, 58, said in court that there was no justification for the killing, calling it "a horrific misdeed."
"It occurred in a moment of madness, none of it planned nor stoppable," Robb said. "More than anyone, I scarred our daughter Olivia for life. I can't imagine what goes through her mind when she is asked about her parents."
Robb, who used to be a tenured economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter a year ago.
He admitted he "just lost it" during an argument that erupted at the couple's Upper Merion Township home in December 2006. Ellen Robb had been planning to end their 16-year marriage, and her husband feared he would see less of their daughter and possibly suffer financially if they divorced.
The couple began fighting over the schedule of a mother-daughter trip to Boston that had been planned for the school break. After the attack -- in which Ellen Robb was so badly bludgeoned that investigators initially thought she had been shot in the face -- Robb staged a burglary and ditched the murder weapon in Philadelphia.
The defense acknowledged that Ellen Robb suffered from mental illness, making it difficult for her to care for herself, their child or the house. They described the home as being packed from floor to ceiling with purchases she had made, yet many boxes were unopened.
Montgomery County Judge Paul Tressler said Wednesday he had been weighing a lighter sentence for Robb but decided against it after learning of a letter the former professor recently sent to his daughter.
In it, Robb wrote he would not send Olivia a Christmas present until she sent him her report card and a school photo, the judge said. Tressler said he did not want Robb manipulating his daughter.
The girl is being raised by a maternal uncle in Haddonfield, N.J.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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