Jury Convicts Man in Slaying of Mental Health Counselor

A Santa Monica Superior Court jury convicted a transient Tuesday of first-degree murder in the 1989 stabbing death of his counselor at a county mental health clinic.

The jury will convene again today to decide whether David Smith, 27, was insane at the time Robbyn Panitch was slain. If found to have been sane, he faces a sentence of 26 years to life in prison, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond.

Panitch, 26, who was engaged to be married, was stabbed 32 times on Feb. 21, 1989, by Smith, who was armed with a 3 1/2-inch folding-blade knife.

The victim’s parents, Gloria and Allan Panitch, were in the courtroom when the verdict was returned.

“We’re absolutely relieved they (the jury) . . . saw through the defense attorney’s ploys,” Gloria Panitch said later. “We’re just keeping our fingers crossed that they’ll be able to do as efficient a job with the next phase.”

Smith, she said, should be “sent away forever.”

“He has a history of beating up on women,” Panitch added. “He’s just a coward who beats up on women when they can’t give him what he wants, just like a spoiled brat.”

She and her husband, she said, had attended every day of Smith’s trial and “we plan to be there tomorrow.”

The attack upon Panitch occurred after Smith reported for a counseling session, authorities said.

Other workers at the Santa Monica West Mental Health Clinic heard Panitch’s cries and went to her aid. Smith, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, managed to scare off two women before two men subdued him, Diamond said.

The killing took place while Smith was on probation for a misdemeanor conviction involving an assault on his mother, Diamond said.

Panitch had been a county mental health employee for four years, but had been working at the Santa Monica clinic for only four months.

The slaying angered fellow employees who complained that county officials had ignored their pleas for better security at their workplaces.

Panitch’s father, testifying before the county Board of Supervisors shortly after the murder, blamed elected officials for his daughter’s death.

Nearly two years after the slaying, the county continues to face funding problems involving its mental health system.

At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, the panel grappled with how to maintain service levels in mental health funding despite a cutback of millions of dollars in state funding. The board ordered a combination of new taxes and agency belt-tightening to help generate $23.85 million and stave off threatened cuts to mental health programs this fiscal year.

The Santa Monica city attorney’s office came under fire early this year for refusing to file criminal charges against the clinic’s supervisors, even though a Cal/OSHA investigation found several violations of state safety laws there.

Jerry P. Gordon, chief of the city attorney’s criminal division, said last January that prosecution was ruled out because state budget cuts affected the clinic’s ability to provide adequate safety measures.

Earlier this year, Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) joined Panitch’s parents in criticizing city prosecutors, saying that their decision sent an improper message to all state employers that “you are safe from prosecution, even if you are negligent.”

Panitch’s parents, who live in the South Bay area, have said their daughter did not want Smith as a patient and did not have an appointment with him the day she was killed.