Dad pleads guilty to beating daughter to death with baseball bat as she slept (Oxford, Michigan)

Dad ROBERT KELLY was a licensed psychologist and therapist....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2163009/Psychologist-father-beat-daughter-death-baseball-bat-slept-pleads-guilty-murder.html

Psychologist father who beat daughter to death with baseball bat as she slept pleads guilty to murder
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 20:36 EST, 21 June 2012 | UPDATED: 20:58 EST, 21 June 2012

Guilty: Robert Kelly has admitted murdering his daughter as she slept

A man who killed his daughter by attacking her with a baseball bat as she was sleeping pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Wednesday.

Robert Kelly went into the bedroom of his 20-year-old daughter Megan at their home in Oxford, Michigan and beat her to death in May last year.

He pleaded guilty to avoid a charge of first-degree murder, and now faces up to 30 years in prison.

Authorities say Kelly, a licensed psychologist and therapist, attacked his daughter on May 9, 2011, then went to the Oxford police station to report the crime.

A police dispatcher testified: 'I asked him if he knew who did it. And he stated, "Yes, I did."'

Kelly's ex-wife Julie Roberts, who was living in the home at the time, found her daughter bleeding and unconscious.

Megan fell into a coma after the beating, and died after being removed from life support on July 27.

Police have been unable to find a motive for the horrific killing.

Kelly's defence lawyer Sanford Schulman said that he did not know why his client committed the murder, adding: 'It's obviously a mental health issue.'

He continued: 'From what we can tell, he loved his daughter deeply. They were very close. It was like something in him snapped. So that's why this plea deal seemed appropriate.'

Mr Schulman also said: 'I've handled over 60 murder cases, and this is the strangest one,' according to the Detroit Free Press.

The state Center for Forensic Psychiatry found Kelly competent for trial, despite testimony from an expert that he was 'unable to distinguish right from wrong' on the night of the murder.

He will be sentenced on July 11.