Husband gets prison for attempting to murder wife

Man becomes angry when judge refuses to bargain over sentence

An Upper Milford Township man who stabbed his wife at the Hamilton Crossings shopping center in Lower Macungie Township and left her to die in a pool of blood in the parking lot was sentenced Thursday in Lehigh County Court to 10 to 20 years in a state prison.

Jonathan Rompilla, 59, displayed a range of emotions as he stood before Judge Kelly L. Banach, first sobbing uncontrollably while apologizing to his wife, then becoming petulant and defiant when the judge refused to lower his sentence.

“I would like to do six months if possible,” Rompilla said, becoming angrier when the judge explained he’d have to serve 10 years before becoming eligible for parole. “I’m not doing it. I’m appealing.”

Rompilla pleaded guilty in October to attempted homicide. He admitted holding his wife of 15 years, Dana Rompilla, 40, at knifepoint as she drove him home from work on Jan. 8, threatening her and demanding that she give him her cellphone.

When Dana Rompilla tried to surreptitiously dial 911 as she pulled into Hamilton Crossings around 1:20 a.m., he stabbed her in the stomach twice and punched her in the face, breaking her nose.

During the struggle in the SUV, Dana Rompilla fought back, hitting her husband with a small hammer. She ran from the vehicle after the stabbing, making her way across the empty parking lots to a snowplow driver, who called 911 as she collapsed in the snow, bleeding profusely from her stomach.

She was rushed to a hospital, where doctors found she had a lacerated liver and was losing a large amount of blood.

Whenpolice tracked Rompilla down, they found a knife in his wife’s bloodstained car, as well as a note to her that read:

“There will be no more struggling. Prepare to die ... . You pissed me off to the point of no return.”

In court Thursday, Dana Rompilla described going into shock as she waited for the ambulance.

“I just prayed to God to let me survive for my kids,” she said.

After telling the judge about her long recovery, which included five days in the hospital, 55 staples in her abdomen and lingering health problems, Dana Rompilla said she was determined that the attack would not break her.

“The defendant hasn’t taken away my will to live,” she said. “The scars are a constant reminder of what happened but do not define me or my future. They remind me of how much stronger I have become.”

When it was his turn to speak, Rompilla wept at first, saying he loved his wife and didn’t mean to stab her.

“Please, please, please, in the name of God, please spare me,” he begged the judge.

Rompilla went on, saying he had asked God to “find a soft spot” in his wife’s heart so that she’d forgive him and drop the charges something that’s not possible in Pennsylvania until the judge cut him off.

“She said in front of my kids that she wanted a divorce. How would you feel?” he shouted.

“There’s a lot of ways to persuade your beloved to have you back. Stabbing isn’t one of them,” Banach said.

Rompilla’s attorney, Earl Suplee, said his client has a low IQ and may have suffered a brain injury when he was younger that affects his behavior. He said Rompilla is remorseful.

“I don’t know what happened that day but it’s clear something snapped,” he said.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Edward Muir called the victim a survivor and argued for the maximum sentence for Rompilla, saying the stabbing was premeditated.

“She’s one of the strongest people I’ve ever met,” he said. Banach agreed.

“You are a brave woman and I very much admire you,” she told Dana Rompilla.