Sacto 9-1-1
July 31, 2012
Man convicted of hammer slaying gets 26-years-to-life sentence

Sixty-year-old Robert Lee Syas has been sentenced to 26 years to life in prison for the beating and stabbing death of Pamela Johnson in February 2011.

A Sacramento County jury convicted Syas of first-degree murder earlier this month after less than a half day of deliberations. He was sentenced today by Superior Court Judge Greta Curtis Fall.

Syas had an on-and-off relationship with Johnson, 55, and friends and family said he had been abusive toward her. Twice in the two months before Johnson was killed, sheriff's deputies had responded to Johnson's apartment regarding domestic assaults by Syas.

On Feb. 5, 2011, Syas attacked Johnson in her Arden Arcade apartment with a hammer and knife, killing her with multiple blows to the face and head and stab wounds to her neck and back, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. DNA evidence found on the victim and Syas was analyzed by the District Attorney's crime lab, linking Syas to the murder.

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