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Wife Of Former Penn Basketball Player Convicted In His Slaying To Go To State Hospital

MEDIA, Pa. (AP) — A woman found guilty but mentally ill in the stabbing death of her husband, a former University of Pennsylvania basketball standout, may soon be paroled to the state mental hospital for treatment.

Fifty-four-year-old Maria Garcia-Pellon was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the February 2013 stabbing death of 55-year-old Matthew White in their Nether Providence home.

Delaware County Judge Kevin Kelly said he believed her treatment in prison would be inadequate. So he sentenced her to as much as 23 months in jail with 23 years of probation and ordered her transfer to the Norristown State Hospital when a bed becomes available. She would be eligible for release from the hospital after 90 days.

Garcia-Pellon apologized in court Friday and called White "my husband and the father of my two children."

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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