Former Tempe Judge Pleads Guilty To Stabbing Wife: Report

PHOENIX, AZ — A former Tempe Municipal Court judge pleaded guilty Tuesday to stabbing his wife last year in a domestic dispute in their Chandler home, according to reports. Thomas Robinson was arrested in September, nearly a month after the stabbing.

On Aug. 25, 2017, Robinson's wife was looking at his phone when she found an unfamiliar number. When she called it, a woman answered, she said in a police report. They began arguing and Robinson left, according to AZ Central.

While he was gone, she damaged some items in the house and dumped some of Robinson's "prized possessions" in the toilet, the police report said.

Robinson returned home to find his wife lying on the bed, and he came in with a knife and stabbed her a total of 10 times, reports say, in the face, chest, back and arms and said he was going to kill her, according to the account in AZ Central.

He eventually stopped and apologized, the police report said.

Later that afternoon, at Chandler Regional Medical Center, Robinson and his wife told police that he had been out of the house and came home to find her with the stab wounds. They also said they did not want an investigation or prosecution, AZ Central reported.

She told police at the time she didn't know who did it.

But, on Sept. 21, Robinson's wife called the police, telling them it had been her husband who stabbed her. They came up with the initial story as to not get him in trouble, she told police.

Police couldn't find a knife at the home, but did find blood spatter, according to reports. Evidence of the crime also included a phone call between Robinson and his wife, in which he admitted to stabbing her, AZ Central reported. Robinson reportedly said he would have to "live with the memory of doing that."

The newspaper said Robinson admitted he and his wife "stonewalled" the detectives. He also told police he ditched the knife and bedding in a trash bin behind a business, according to reports.

After Robinson was arrested, the Commission on Judicial Conduct was notified, and Tempe officials put him on paid administrative leave, according to KGUN-TV. He had served in the courts since 1995, and as a municipal court judge since 2009.

Robinson, convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, will be sentenced on May 30.

Article image Maricopa County Sheriff's Office