Robert Lee Burton Jr.: Attack, Life Sentence, and Melissa Dohme

Robert Lee Burton Jr. is the Clearwater, Florida man who stabbed his ex-girlfriend, Melissa Dohme, 32 times outside her home on January 24, 2012. He pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on October 21, 2013. He was 22 at sentencing.¹

The Attack

Burton and Dohme had dated for roughly two years in a relationship she later described as verbally, emotionally, and eventually physically abusive. Three months before the stabbing, in October 2011, he was arrested for domestic battery after punching her and pulling her hair. He spent about 10 hours in jail.²

After three months apart, Burton called Dohme repeatedly asking for a final hug for closure. She agreed to meet him around 2 a.m. on January 24, 2012. When she stepped outside her Clearwater home, he attacked her with a switchblade, inflicting 19 wounds to her head, neck, and face and 13 to her hands and arms as she tried to shield herself.³ When bystanders tried to intervene, he retrieved a larger serrated knife from his truck and continued the assault.⁴ He left her in the road believing she was dead. Two teenagers who heard the attack called 911.

Investigators found a knife and sheath at the scene. Inside Burton’s vehicle they recovered a baseball bat, a hatchet, and an expandable baton.² He was arrested in neighboring Pasco County after crashing his car. He had ingested sleeping pills.

Guilty Plea and Life Sentence

Burton was charged with attempted first-degree murder in Pinellas County. Before any plea, the court held a full day of arguments over his mental competency. Three mental health experts testified, and Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Keith Meyer ruled that Burton was competent to stand trial.⁵

Burton initially tried to negotiate a plea deal capping his prison time at 10 years. Judge Meyer rejected that proposal. With no agreement from the prosecution, Burton pleaded guilty in August 2013 without any sentencing deal, leaving punishment entirely to the judge.⁵

At the October 21, 2013 sentencing, a trauma surgeon testified that Dohme’s survival was a “miracle” and that she had been “seconds away from dying.”⁶ Burton addressed the court through tears, apologized to Dohme and her family, and blamed his actions on untreated bipolar disorder. “I can’t even imagine what I put her through and I will have to live with that forever,” he said, asking for leniency.⁷ Judge Meyer sentenced him to life without parole.¹

What Happened to Melissa Dohme

Dohme’s injuries were catastrophic. She suffered a fractured skull, nose, and jaw, a stabbed larynx, severed facial nerves that paralyzed the right side of her face, and knocked-out teeth. Arteries in her neck were cut, and the blood loss triggered a stroke in her cerebellum.³ Even so, she was alert enough at the scene to identify herself and Burton to the first officers who arrived before she was airlifted to Bayfront Health Medical Center.

At the hospital she flatlined four times and received 12 units of blood, roughly double what the average human body holds.⁴ She spent several days in intensive care on a ventilator and later underwent at least 10 reconstructive procedures. Nerve and muscle surgery at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary’s Facial Nerve Center in Boston eventually restored her ability to smile.⁸

Dohme read a victim impact statement at Burton’s sentencing. She described crawling to a mailbox so he would not run over her as he drove away, and told the court he had raised the knife toward her eyes and heart while she blocked with her hands.⁶ After the life sentence was announced, she publicly forgave him. “I offer forgiveness and I forgive him,” she said. “Forgiveness is a sign of letting go and when you forgive someone that hurts you, you take away their power.” She added that she was grateful the sentence ensured Burton would never be free to harm her or another woman. “I wasn’t able to walk away with 10 or 20 stabs. Only after 32 stab wounds and Robert Burton thought I was dead did he walk away. The only justice in return was a life sentence.”⁹

Not to Be Confused With Robert Lee Burton Sr.

A separate man named Robert Lee Burton, born June 16, 1969, was arrested by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office on May 2, 2018, in connection with a 1993 cold-case sexual assault in St. Petersburg. Detectives identified him through reprocessed DNA evidence and charged him with sexual battery with a deadly weapon; he was booked on $100,000 bail and denied knowing the victim.¹⁰¹¹ That case involves a different person from the Robert Lee Burton Jr. who stabbed Melissa Dohme.

1
ABC News. Florida Woman Forgives Stabbing 32 Times
2
CBS News. 48 Hours Live to Tell: One Last Hug
3
CBS News. Stabbed 32 Times: Dating Violence Survivor Speaks
4
BBC News. Melissa Dohme’s Story
5
Tampa Bay Times. Clearwater Man Accused of Brutally Stabbing His Ex-Girlfriend 32 Times
6
The Ledger. Man Gets Life for Stabbing Ex-Girlfriend 32 Times
7
Bay News 9. Man Sentenced to Life in Prison
8
Hands Across the Bay. Melissa Dohme’s Story
9
UPI. Florida Woman Forgives Ex-Boyfriend for Stabbing Her 32 Times
10
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Detectives Arrest Sexual Battery Suspect From a 1993 Cold Case
11
The Ledger. DNA Leads to St. Pete Man’s Arrest 26 Years After Rape