Jillian Robbins will serve 30 to 60 years in state prison for the Sept. 17, 1996, shooting on the University Park campus that left one student dead and one wounded.The shooting took place on the lawn of the Hetzel Union Building.
Robbins pleaded guilty May 23 to third-degree murder in the killing of student Melanie Spalla, 21, of Altoona, and attempted murder in the wounding of student Nicholas Mensah of Philadelphia. Robbins did not know the victims.
Robbins, who was 19 at the time and not a Penn State student, came onto campus with a rifle, hid in some bushes and began shooting. She fired five rounds before Brendon Malovrh, another student, disarmed her.
Court briefs filed in September 1997 on Robbins' behalf state that she suffers from major recurrent depression, borderline personality disorder, dysthymic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociative disorder.