Man Resentenced in Slaying With Lye : Crime: Convicted murderer of a Sylmar woman gets credit for 14 years he has served.

VAN NUYS — A man convicted in a retrial of murdering a Sylmar woman by throwing lye in her face 14 years ago was again sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison.

Ricardo H. Robinson, who acted as his own attorney, was also convicted of mayhem, conspiracy and assault for the Aug. 14, 1980, fatal attack on law student Patricia Worrell, who was 34.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert L. Cohen said that Robinson, who was originally convicted in 1982 and gets credit for the 14 years he has already served in prison, may have erred by representing himself in the Van Nuys Superior Court case.

“The court really went out of its way to protect” Robinson’s right to proper representation,” Cohen said. “Unfortunately, when you choose to represent yourself you often make mistakes, and he made mistakes.”

Robinson, 36, formerly of Las Vegas, was convicted by a jury on July 21 after two days of deliberation. Robinson had taken the witness stand and denied any role in the attack. But his testimony was thrown out after he refused to answer questions by Cohen under cross-examination.

Worrell’s son, William--who was 13 when his mother died--and Robinson’s convicted accomplice, Bobby Ray Savage, identified Robinson as the man who had thrown a quart of lye in Worrell’s face when she answered a knock at her door.

The lye blinded and disfigured Worrell. She died 10 days later, after the caustic chemical she accidentally ingested burned through her esophagus and an artery.

During the trial, Savage testified that Worrell’s jilted fiance, fellow law student Richard Morton Gilman, had hired him to disfigure Worrell because she refused to give back an engagement ring. The payoff was to be $1,500 but, according to testimony, Gilman only paid him $750.

Gilman--who was inside the house with Worrell when the attack occurred--denied hiring the men. He and Savage were both convicted of murder and are serving sentences of 25 years to life in prison.

Robinson was retried after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeal ruled two years ago that police took incriminating statements from him after he had demanded a lawyer but before one was provided.