Former Economics professor Rafael Robb is appealing his five- to 10-year prison sentence for killing his wife, Ellen, in 2006.
Robb's attorney, Frank DeSimone, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he filed a motion for reconsideration because he felt Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Paul Tressler misinterpreted the motive of a letter Robb sent to his 14-year-old daughter, Olivia.
In the letter, Robb told Olivia that in order to receive holiday gifts, she needed to send him a picture of herself and her report card.
Olivia received the letter the day before Robb's sentencing hearing on Nov. 19.
Tressler said at the sentencing that the letter made him decide to give Robb a sentence in the standard range for voluntary manslaughter, rather than a lighter sentence.
Robb pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in November 2007 after admitting that he bludgeoned his wife to death with a chin-up bar in December 2006 after they got into an argument over Olivia's vacation plans.
Tressler said he does not want Robb to control his daughter's life, something Tressler said the letter showed Robb was trying to do.
At his sentencing hearing, Robb apologized to Olivia and Ellen's family members, saying he wished he could "turn back the hands of time."
Bruce Castor, one of the prosecutors in the case, called the appeal "hogwash" and "despicable" because Ellen Robb's family and friends are still coping with her death and think he should have received a harsher sentence.
He added that a judge does not have to grant a hearing for the appeal, particularly because the sentence was not out of line with other manslaughter sentences in the state.
Castor - the former district attorney - is now a county commissioner, but was named a special prosecutor for the case.
A judge will likely determine whether or not there will be a hearing within the next 10 days, Castor said.
Robb resigned from his position at the University shortly after he pleaded guilty.
