KITTANNING, Pa. -- A judge yesterday told a woman who abducted a pregnant neighbor and tried to cut the fetus from her womb that it was no surprise the case made news around the world because her acts were "heinous," "monstrous" and "premeditated."

	Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette Peggy Jo Conner Click photo for larger image.

Armstrong County Judge Kenneth G. Valasek said he was disappointed at how little remorse Peggy Jo Conner expressed and dismayed she was still denying responsibility for aspects of the crime after pleading guilty to all the charges against her.

He sentenced the 40-year-old Manor woman to 22 to 50 years in prison, plus counseling and restitution costs.

Before the sentencing, the primary victim, Valerie Oskin, testified about the lasting physical and emotional toll the attack has taken on her and her son Brandon, who was 6 when he saw his mother attacked with a baseball bat.

Looking composed in a pinstripe suit, Ms. Oskin turned to face her attacker several times from the witness stand, although she addressed her plea for the maximum sentence to the judge.

"Peggy Jo beat me unconscious with a baseball bat and a tire iron," she said. "My life has been permanently altered." She said the blows to her head left her with permanent neck injuries and a greatly diminished sense of taste and smell.

Hours after Ms. Oskin was beaten and taken from her mobile home, a 17-year-old boy discovered her miles away on an abandoned logging road, bleeding profusely from a gash across her abdomen. Ms. Conner, who remained at the scene with the victim, told police she was tending to an ailing friend.

"Peggy Jo would have left me to bleed to death had I not been found by the boy on the ATV," she said. "She caused anguish for my family and friends and the adoptive parents and grandparents who were prepared to take my unborn child."

The infant survived after the victim was air-lifted to Allegheny General Hospital for an emergency Caesarean section. Ms. Oskin said the long-term impact to the child's health is not yet known.

Family therapist Janice Husted testified that Ms. Oskin suffered from severe migraines, nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, irritability and emotional numbness.

"She can describe the events [of the October 2005 attack] in full detail, but there's no emotion," Dr. Husted told the judge.

The psychologist said Ms. Oskin was hyper-vigilant about her son Brandon, who is now 8 and also suffers from post-traumatic stress and night terrors. Brandon is afraid to sleep alone. Ms. Oskin also read into the record a victim impact statement Brandon wrote to the judge:

Dear Judge,

I woke up in the middle of the night because I heard a loud knock. I saw my mom on the floor. And I saw my neighbor Peggy and she told me to go back to bed... Please keep her in jail forever so she will never hurt us.

Ms. Oskin testified that even with Ms. Conner behind bars, neither she nor her son felt protected.

"My doors were locked when I went to bed that night and I made sure my new house has more locks but I still don't feel safe," she said.

Defense lawyer David J. Defazio had asked to delay sentencing until yesterday so Ms. Conner might have a chance to be more frank with her counselors about her guilt and what caused her to commit these crimes. Mr. DeFazio told the judge the extra time did not move things forward and said Ms. Conner did not wish to address the court. But when Judge Valasek gave her the opportunity, she did speak.

"I'm sorry for what happened to Valerie and for what part I had in it. I'm sorry for hurting her and her family. I'm not that kind of person. I was on drugs then," she testified. A toxicology screen did not detect drugs in Ms. Conner's system.

In a pre-sentencing interview, Ms. Conner, who is the mother of three teen-age children and has no prior criminal record, denied involvement in the attack, though she had pleaded guilty in a lengthy February proceeding to attempted homicide, kidnapping and the aggravated assault on the expectant mother and her unborn child.

Judge Valasek asked the woman in orange prison garb if she had any additions or corrections to the pre-sentencing report.

With little emotion, she said in a low voice, "I did not hit her with a baseball bat ever or break into her house. But I did hit her in the forehead with the crowbar."

"I cut her" Ms. Conner said, referring to the crude C-section she attempted with a home-made birthing kit that included hemostats, a bulb syringe, a razor, scissors, rubber gloves and shoelaces. "And then I got sick. I stayed with her. I kept her warm."