At retrial, man convicted of killing wife

A little more than eight years after Hollie Rosen was stabbed to death in her North Wales home, her husband faces life in prison after a two-day retrial in the slaying ended in his conviction yesterday.

Adam Rosen, 42, did not flinch when he was found guilty by Montgomery County Court Judge Paul W. Tressler.

The judge heard the case without a jury and called it "a tragedy for both families" while handing down his decision. Relatives of the slain woman and the murderous husband wept as Tressler detailed the crime and the seven knife wounds that killed Hollie Rosen, 31, on June 30, 2000, in the couple's townhouse.

"There's no doubt in my mind," Tressler said, "that he intended to kill her when he stuck that knife into her chest, and also when he slashed her throat to keep her quiet."

Testimony from the 2002 trial and from this week's retrial included statements about the couple's difficulties, including arguments about Adam Rosen's sexual demands. The situation sparked arguments between the couple both before and after their twin children were born, just months before the murder.

The original conviction was tossed out because Rosen's first lawyer failed to call certain witnesses to testify.

The retrial was marked by a new revelation: Adam Rosen's ex-lover testified that, shortly before the killing, he had asked if she would take him back if Hollie Rosen was not around anymore. She said yes.

"I think that might have opened the door" to Adam Rosen's decision to kill, Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Coley Reynolds said after the trial.

As deputies led him away, Adam Rosen called out to his relatives to "make sure Mom stays all right" but declined other comment.

Outside the courtroom, a red-eyed Bill Steinman said the retrial in his daughter's slaying was "horrible" to endure.

"We finally got some real justice this time," Steinman said.

The couple's twins, Steinman said, have been adopted by Hollie Rosen's sister and are doing well.