Richard W. Flewellen yesterday was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death last year of his wife of 14 years, Celia Flewellen, in their Beechview home.

Celia Flewellen

Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning, who presided in the nonjury trial, rejected Mr. Flewellen's claim that his deep depression and psychosis rendered him incapable of forming the specific intent to kill his wife.

Such intent is necessary to justify a verdict of first-degree murder for the Oct. 9, 2004, incident.

Mr. Flewellen did not deny having beat his wife's head and face with a ball-peen hammer and stabbing her with two steak knives, one of which broke off inside her.

He was seeking a verdict of third-degree murder and a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.

Instead, Judge Manning sentenced him to life, the penalty for premeditated murder.

Mr. Flewellen also was found guilty of two counts of arson and one of risking a catastrophe.

After killing his wife and driving his two daughters to their grandparents' home in East Liberty, Mr. Flewellen returned and set fires in several rooms of his house.

Mrs. Flewellen died of a skull fracture that exposed her brain. She also suffered second-degree burns over about 25 percent of her body.

He was sentenced to 10 to 20 years, concurrent to the life term, for the arson convictions. A consecutive term of 3 1/2 to 7 years was added for risking a catastrophe.

The fire was a hazard to the community because homes in Beechview are situated close together.

Mr. Flewellen, 39, a Port Authority bus driver and award-winning amateur bodybuilder, testified this week that, because of his mental state, he did not remember actually beating to death his wife last year.

He testified that he was traumatized when Celia Flewellen, 40, woke him before dawn to say their marriage was over and that she wanted a divorce.

Mrs. Flewellen, who was principal at Homewood Montesorri School, had just gotten out of the shower and was about to get dressed when, according to her husband's statement to police, he approached her from behind and began hitting her with the hammer in their attic bedroom.

As she lay on the floor, still barely alive and moaning, he got the knives from downstairs and returned to stab her.

In court, he testified that he wanted to preserve his family and questioned his wife about her fidelity. When he questioned her sexual preference, he said, she attacked him, kicking and punching.

He testified that he remembered picking up the hammer from beside the bed, but not striking her with it.

He denied having gone to the kitchen for the knives.

He recalled having hallucinations.

His eldest daughter, Cassandra Flewellen, however, testified that she heard her parents arguing, her mother's yelling, and pounding noises that Judge Manning said likely came from the hammer striking her as she lay on the floor.

Cassandra, then 12, also testified that she saw her father twice scurry past her room, where she was with her younger sister, and return to the attic before he took the girls from the home.

"I'd like to apologize to the Flewellen family. It was never my intention to harm Celia," Mr. Flewellen said before he was sentenced.

He testified that, when they were married, he took her name.

"I tried my best to keep the family together," he added.

Judge Manning said that psychiatrists called by the defense and prosecution canceled each other out. It was, the judge said, the convincing testimony of 13-year-old Cassandra that was most believable.

"Her testimony was clear, unequivocal and convincing," Judge Manning said.