Norristown man pleads guilty in death of unborn child

A Norristown man who caused the death of his girlfriend’s unborn baby by beating and choking her will spend 25 to 50 years in prison, a judge ruled Monday.

Robert Wiley, 24, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder of an unborn child as a result of the August 2022 beating. In doing so, he avoided a more serious charge of murder in the first degree.

Wiley’s 26-year-old girlfriend was 21 weeks pregnant with his child when he attacked her while she slept, saying he would “kill the baby,” prosecutors said.

At the time of the attack, Wiley had been out on bail after being charged with an earlier assault on the woman.

As Wiley stood before Montgomery County Court Judge William R. Carpenter to deliver his plea, prosecutors told the court his actions demonstrated an indifference to the value of human life.

“He strangled her twice with his hands, and then he went and got a belt and wrapped the belt around her neck, squeezing until she ultimately lost consciousness,” said prosecutor Gwendolyn Kull.

“He knew she was pregnant and consciously disregarded that his assault against the baby’s mom could take the life of the child,” Kull said.

Wiley attacked the mother of his child because he was romantically involved with another woman, the prosecutor said.

In a statement read in court, the victim, Selena Hernandez, who did not attend the hearing, wrote that she suffered from flashbacks of the attack and was consumed by grief at the loss of her unborn child.

James Lyons, Wiley’s attorney, said his client was remorseful, even if he struggled to express his emotions.

Had Wiley gone to trial, Lyons said, he would have argued the beating did not directly result in the loss of the unborn child. A pathologist with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office ruled last August that the death was caused by placental trauma.

Wiley also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and strangulation. He is being held in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.