Man Gets 26 Years to Life for Killing Social Worker

A judge on Tuesday sentenced a delusional transient to 26 years to life in prison for murdering his Santa Monica social worker, then advised the victim’s grieving family to “put this behind you.

“You are exacerbating your own wounds,” Santa Monica Superior Court Judge James Albracht told the family, who have become outspoken victims’ rights advocates since their only daughter was stabbed to death in her office Feb. 21, 1989.

Moments earlier, the anguished parents and brother of the dead woman, Robbyn Panitch, pleaded in court for a maximum term, though the judge had no other choice under state sentencing law.

“The thought that I will never see my daughter alive again is unbelievable,” Gloria Panitch said. “I will always hear her screams in my nightmares . . . and I see and smell her blood.”

Outside court after the hearing, Gloria Panitch termed the judge’s comments “pretty insensitive,” and added she hoped he would never experience first-hand the pain of losing a child.

Robbyn Panitch, 36, was stabbed 30 times by David Scott Smith, a psychotic homeless man whose attempt to be declared legally insane was rebuffed by a jury in December. The same jury had earlier in the month convicted the 27-year-old of first-degree murder.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond had argued that Smith, though mentally troubled, was not legally insane under California’s narrow guidelines.

Smith has been diagnosed by doctors as paranoid-schizophrenic and told authorities he believed he was killing the “Antichrist” instead of his social worker.

He will be eligible for his first parole hearing after serving two-thirds of his term, though most first-degree murderers in California serve longer and he could be kept in prison for the rest of his life.

Albracht recommended that Smith be housed at a prison hospital facility, but declined a defense request for a new trial. “It is clear to me Mr. Smith is a profoundly sick man,” Albracht said.

At the time of the murder, Smith, a client of his victim at a county mental health clinic, was on probation after attacking his mother. He had been judged nonviolent days earlier by a psychiatrist.

The victim’s brother told the court that the system had failed his sister at every turn, including her supervisors, who, he said, failed to protect her from Smith’s repeated threats.

Mark Panitch described weeks of threats to his sister that were tinged with anti-Semitism.

“Robbyn was absolutely terrified of this man,” said Panitch, who has been a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney in the state of Washington. “He threatened her. He stalked her. He ultimately tortured her to death.”

The judge’s remarks to the family came after testimony in which family members accused Smith’s public defender of attacking them during her court presentations, for which they had daily, front-row seats.

Throughout the trial, the family took an active role, offering advice to the prosecutor and filling books with notes during testimony. Family members have lobbied Sacramento, appeared at press conferences and sought out elected officials in their effort to better ensure the safety of mental health workers and to fight for victims’ rights.

While expressing his compassion toward them, Albracht termed their criticism of Deputy Public Defender Carol Chem “a misplaced product of grief” before urging them to make peace with their loss.

“I’m sorry, Judge Albracht, but your simplistic comment about putting this behind us is not that easy,” responded the victim’s father, Allan Panitch, outside court.