SerpApi.Org
The woman who killed a Penn State student and wounded another in a 1996 shooting on the University Park campus was recently denied parole for the first time since becoming eligible.
The June 3 decision ensures Jillian P. Robbins, 49, will remain in prison nearly three decades after one of the most significant acts of violence in Penn State’s history. She is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence at Muncy state prison in Lycoming County.
The Pennsylvania Parole Board said its denial was because of the nature of Robbins’ crime. No other reason was listed. Her next review is scheduled for May. The decision was obtained Tuesday by the Centre Daily Times.
Parole is the conditional release of an inmate from incarceration to continue serving the balance of their sentence under supervision. Robbins’ maximum sentence is set to expire Sept. 20, 2056.
The Parole Board’s decision intimated the state Department of Corrections offered a favorable recommendation for her to be released. It also appears Robbins has maintained a clear conduct record during her time in prison.
Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna was unable Tuesday morning to immediately detail what, if any, recommendation county prosecutors offered. A Penn State spokesperson said the university’s police department was not involved in the parole process.
The CDT has not received a response from Robbins after mailing her a letter in late May. She pleaded guilty in 1998 to a count of third-degree murder and four counts of attempted first-degree murder.
At the time, former university President Graham Spanier called the shootings an “act of violence unprecedented in Penn State’s history.”
Robbins, then a 19-year-old resident of Patton Township, opened fire about 9:35 a.m. Sept. 17, 1996, on the lawn outside what is now known as the HUB-Robeson Center. She fired five shots from a high-powered rifle equipped with a telescopic sight while prone in the bushes.
English major Melanie A. Spalla, of Blair County, was killed by a gunshot to the back about 100 feet away. Business administration major Nicholas Mensah, then a 22-year-old student from Philadelphia, was seriously injured when he was shot in the abdomen. Several others narrowly avoided injury, including at least one whose backpack stopped a bullet.
The shooting was stopped by Brendon Malovrh, then a 21-year-old aerospace engineering major and honors student from Chester County. After spotting Robbins in the bushes as she attempted to reload, Malovrh rushed through the gate of a chain-link fence and wrestled the gun away, according to court documents and transcripts.
Robbins lunged at him with a knife, but stabbed herself in the left thigh. Malovrh used his belt as a tourniquet until first responders arrived.
Robbins, who university police said spoke coherently, told investigators she did not know Spalla or the survivors. She said she ”just decided to shoot” and that she walked to the HUB from her Toftrees apartment. Her roommate told police Robbins had written a suicide note on a computer within the last few weeks, according to a search warrant.
During sentencing, now-retired Centre County First Assistant Public Defender Deborah Lux said Robbins did not initially realize anyone was killed or injured. Upon learning of the injuries, Lux said Robbins sobbed and expressed “genuine remorse and concern for her actions.”
“That was tough to have to break that news to her,” Lux told the CDT on Tuesday.
Robbins put forward an insanity defense, bolstered by a forensic psychology expert who said she had borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative identity disorder and severe depressive episodes. She had just recently been discharged from The Meadows Psychiatric Center.
It was not immediately clear how experts currently view her diagnoses.
“It’s tragic that the mental health professionals who were involved in Ms. Robbins’ life during this time period didn’t see the warning signs,” Lux said at sentencing, while Robbins declined comment.
