Inset: Ruth Sue Ann Robison (Polk County Sheriff”s Office). Background: Hamza Smajlovic at sentencing hearing for murdering Robison and wounding her husband (KCCI).
An Iowa man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after he shot his ex-girlfriend’s parents, killing her mother and critically injuring her father, as they moved her out of their shared home after a breakup.
Hamza Smajlovic, 25, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 25 years on Friday after he opened fire on Ruth and Tony Robison last year, the Polk County Attorney’s Office said. Ruth Robison, 45, died while her husband suffered life-altering injuries. Smajlovic pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder and attempted murder.
The couple’s daughter, Jasmyne Robison, took the stand Friday to make a victim impact statement. She described how Smajlovic choking her in October 2024 was the “final straw” that made her decide to leave him after a “dreadful nine years” of abuse.
“I wish I never met you,” she told the defendant. “I will never get the time back with my mother.”
Ruth and Tony Robison, 53, were moving their daughter’s furniture out of her home in the 200 block of NW 51st Place in Des Moines on Nov. 1, 2024.
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“I grabbed the 9-millimeter and shot Ruth in the head,” he told District Judge Joseph Seidlin when he pleaded guilty last month. “I believe after Ruth, I pointed the gun at Tony, and I shot him in the head as well.”
Polk County Sheriff’s deputies arrived and found the pair inside with gunshot wounds. Paramedics rushed the victims to the hospital, where doctors pronounced Ruth Robison dead.
At the sentencing hearing, Smajlovic acknowledged the impact his actions had on the Robison family.
“My life wasn’t the only one that was ruined. Many, many lives got ruined,” he said.
Chayse Robison said Smajlovic isolated her sister from the rest of the family, but their mother never stopped trying to rescue her. Her mother was protecting her daughter when she died.
“Her memory is stronger than the man that killed her will ever be. His actions will define him and his family name with shame, but my mother, Ruth Robison, her legacy will be defined by honor,” Chayse Robison said. “She gave her life protecting Jasmyne, and she did so without hesitation.”
The plea deal called for Smajlovic to receive life in prison. The 25-year sentence for attempted murder was set to run concurrently as part of the plea deal, but the judge had other plans. Though it was largely symbolic, Seidlin ordered the sentences to run consecutively.
“By running these counts concurrently, I believe it symbolizes that the unsuccessful attempt to commit murder doesn’t count,” he said, according to local CBS affiliate KCCI. “I can count on one hand the times that I have not gone along with a plea agreement, but I cannot go along with this one.”
