Pollard Sentencing Judge Dies of Heart Attack

NY Newsday - February 29, 2000

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Aubrey E. Robinson Jr., the former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia who in 1987 sentenced Jonathan Jay Pollard to life in prison for spying for Israel, died Sunday.

Robinson, 77, died of a heart attack at his home in Washington.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Robinson to the bench of the old D.C. Juvenile Court and then elevated him to the U.S. District Court the following year. Robinson became chief judge in 1982, succeeding William B. Bryant, and served until 1992. He took senior judge status when he reached the retirement age of 70 and continued to decide cases until his death.

Robinson is survived by his second wife, Doris, and two daughters.