Dad Pleads Guilty To Beating Daughter To Death
PONTIAC (WWJ/AP) - A 53-year-old psychologist has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the baseball bat beating death of his sleeping 20-year-old daughter at their Michigan home.
Robert Kelly of Oxford made the plea Wednesday in exchange for the dropping of a first-degree murder charge. The Oakland Press of Pontiac reported he's expected to get 20 to 30 years in prison at his July 11 sentencing in Oakland County Circuit Court.
Authorities said Kelly attacked his daughter on May 9, 2011, beating her in the face and head. He then went to the Oxford police station and confessed.
Megan Roberts, who was a students at Oakland Community College, fell into a coma. She was eventually taken off life support and died on July 27.
Defense lawyer Sanford Schulman said earlier that he didn't know why Kelly killed his daughter, adding "it's obviously a mental health issue."
Schulman said Kelly had been on Xanax and wrote a suicide note. "He snapped. It's a vague memory," Schulman said.
The state Center for Forensic Psychiatry found Kelly competent for trial.
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