Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

WEST PALM BEACH — Former female impersonator Eulis "Robbie" Campbell took a plea deal that got him a 40-year prison sentence on Wednesday for stabbing and slashing a man to death 56 times whom he met in a gay bar.

From his standpoint, that's better than the life sentence he received in November 2006 following his conviction on charges of first-degree murder and two other felonies in the slaying of Farook Baksh, 45, a married truck driver and landlord who met Campbell at H.G. Roosters in West Palm Beach.

With credit for the two years and seven months he already has been in custody, plus possible gain time he could earn while in prison, the sentence actually amounts to about 31 years, said Assistant State Attorney Craig Williams.

But Campbell is a good bet to die behind bars anyway, He was diagnosed with AIDS several years ago, said his attorney, Shari Vrod. Doctors say his life expectancy is about seven more years, she added.

Still, Campbell was glad to put the case behind him. "He is so relieved," Vrod said. "He thanked us profusely."

Campbell's earlier conviction was reversed by the 4th District Court of Appeal in December, which ruled that Circuit Judge Richard Wennet erred in not sequestering the jury over a holiday weekend.

Well before meeting Baksh, Campbell had impersonated the likes of Liza Minnelli and Marilyn Monroe while performing under the stage name of Madeline Monroe. He bleached his long hair blond, got silicone injections to his face and implants in his hips and buttocks and underwent hormone therapy.

When he and Baksh left the bar in March 2003, they went to an apartment the latter owned in the Westgate neighborhood a few miles away. He testified at trial that he and Baksh "fooled around" and then Baksh rubbed a knife along his face and asked if he had ever been cut.

"I was afraid he was going to kill me," Campbell testified.

After repeatedly stabbing Baksh in what he said was self-defense, Campbell set a fire in the apartment and took the dead man's keys and drove off in his vehicle. Baksh's wallet was never found. Campbell denied taking it.

Baksh's widow and brother agreed to Wednesday's deal in which Campbell pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, first-degree arson and grand theft, in part because "they felt it's a life sentence," Williams said. He added, "The victims don't want to go through it again."