Ex-Tax Attorney Pleads Guilty to Stabbing Wife to Death in NY Town's First Homicide in Decades

What to Know

  • An ex-New York City tax attorney pleaded guilty on Tuesday to manslaughter charges in the stabbing death of his estranged wife
  • The man and woman's adult children had requested not to be subjected to a trial, according to prosecutors
  • The killing was the first in Scarsdale since 1977, when a Yale student was bludgeoned to death by her boyfriend

A former tax attorney has pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the stabbing death of his wife, a pediatrician at a New York City children's hospital, in the first homicide in their affluent Westchester town in nearly 40 years. 

Julius Reich faces up to 25 years in state prison in the Jan. 20, 2016, stabbing death of 58-year-old Dr. Robin Goldman, according to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office. 

Authorities said that Reich, a former New York City tax attorney, stabbed Goldman several times in an upstairs bathroom at their multimillion-dollar five-bedroom home. Then, they said, he came downstairs and called 911 after some time. 

Reich and Goldman had been undergoing a divorce at the time of Goldman's death, but authorities said they were still living in the home together.

Attorneys said Tuesday that Goldman and Reich's adult children had asked to avoid a trial and had agreed that the plea would make their father "accountable for his actions."

"They are relieved their father finally accepted responsibility for his actions and his plea will help them move forward and bring finality to a horrific situation," the Westchester County District Attorney's Office said in a statement.

The killing was the first homicide in Scarsdale in nearly four decades.

The last killing was in 1977 when Yale senior Bonnie Garland was bludgeoned to death in her home. Her ex-boyfriend, Yale graduate Richard Herrin, was convicted of manslaughter. 

Copyright The Associated Press
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