GREAT FALLS - A teenage driver was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years in prison for trying to kill a woman by hitting her with his sport utility vehicle. District Judge Kenneth Neill sentenced Daniel Robbins to 80 years with 30 suspended for attempted murder. Robbins, a former C.M. Russell student, pleaded guilty in February. Police say Robbins, now 17, told investigators he tried to kill Patty Emanuel while she was jogging last May 27 because he wanted to have sex with her corpse.

Mental health is no excuse for this act," Neill said. "He knew what he was doing."

Neill noted a class assignment where Robbins listed several New Year's resolutions, including getting a driver's license so he could do horrible things people read about in the papers.

"The defendant made up his mind to run her down well in advance," Neill said. "It is a miracle that she survived."

Emanuel was hospitalized for 24 days with six fractured vertebrae, four fractures in her pelvis, a collapsed lung, three broken ribs and other injuries.

Robbins also must pay nearly $50,000 for Emanuel's hospital and physical therapy bills for the past year.

As with all juvenile sentences, Robbins' will automatically be reviewed before he turns 21 in November 2007.