PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This superb account of Robert Will's troubling case is far too large to run in full. I have therefore selected six passages to give the reader a taste. The rest is well worth the read word by word at the link below:
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
-----------------------------------------------------------
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This superb account of Robert Will's troubling case is far too large to run in its entirety. I have therefore selected six passages to give the reader a taste. The rest is well worth the read word by word at the link below:
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
-----------------------------------------------------------
SUB-HEADING: For two decades, Rob Will has been on death row for the murder of a cop. But activists say there is enough additional evidence to save him.
PASSAGE ONE: "Will’s case has gotten a good bit of attention over the years, with a 2012 write-up in The New York Times detailing just how suspect the original verdict and subsequent appeals were; more recently, his plight has been championed by Jason Flom, a social-justice activist who hosts the Wrongful Conviction podcast and, as the music-industry CEO of Lava Records, has launched the careers of, among others, Katy Perry, Kid Rock, and Lorde. On Will’s behalf, Flom has put together a couple of successful New York events featuring the convict’s paintings, with the proceeds going to his defense fund. And it’s he who got Dr. Phil fired up about Will’s case. Flom: “What’s happened to Rob is about as bad as it gets. I mean, you look at the evidence and it’s clear from the start he didn’t kill anyone.” Dr. Phil: “Having been trained in forensic psychology and spent many years in the litigation arena, I am appalled. The mismanagement of this case and the attendant evidence is nothing short of monumental.”
--------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE TWO: "On December 4th, 2000, with dawn just about to break on a Houston bayou, Harris County deputy sheriffs Barrett Hill, 38, and Warren Kelly rolled up on a few guys stripping parts from cars; the thieves immediately took off on foot. Kelly chased Michael “Rock-e” Rosario, 22, in one direction, while Hill hustled after Rob Will, 22, in another, caught up to him and radioed in to say, “I’ve got one in custody.” Shortly thereafter, Kelly lost sight of Rosario and asked the dispatcher for backup. And then he heard shots ring out. A bit later, his partner was found dead on the ground, riddled with bullet holes, and no Will, who fled the scene, commandeered a car, and was arrested without incident 70 miles away, with the murder weapon, a .40-caliber Sig Sauer pistol, on him and blood pouring from a bullet wound on his left hand. He was charged with capital murder and convicted in 2002 inside a courtroom packed with uniformed police officers, with the lead prosecutor telling the jury, “What really we learned from September 11th is that evil exists in the world. The embodiment of evil . . . manifested itself in Robert Gene Will II.” Will has long maintained that Hill had him in handcuffs at the time of the shooting and that Rosario, the son of a Houston cop, had circled around, come upon them, and shot Hill multiple times, in the head, neck, wrist, and chest, wounding his buddy in the process. And then both took off again. For reasons that remain unclear, the cops didn’t seem to care much about Rosario, however. He was charged with and convicted of theft. (Rosario could not be reached for comment on this story; according to The New York Times, however, one of his former attorneys has said that Rosario has repeatedly denied that he murdered Deputy Hill.) Additionally, Will’s hands were tested for gunpowder residue and found to be clean. During one of the trial’s most damning moments, the woman whose car Will hijacked testified that he told her he’d just shot a cop. On the day her car was stolen, however, she didn’t mention that fact in any of the eight conversations she had with officers, even though she knew a cop had just been killed. She didn’t remember it until the prosecutor was prepping her for the trial, 13 months later."
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PASSAGE THREE: "In the 18 years since Will’s conviction, the twists and
turns in his case, as raised on appeal, or messed up on appeal, have
gotten ever more convoluted and disturbing, such that the whole thing
has devolved into what federal Judge Keith Ellison of the Southern
District of Texas has called “a procedural imbroglio.” To name a few: New jailhouse witnesses stepped forward
with sworn affidavits stating that Rosario confessed the crime to them.
Also, another inmate, in a sworn affidavit, said that Rosario had
attempted to put a hit out on Will, presumably to silence him. Despite
the new statements, Will’s appeals were denied.
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PASSAGE FOUR: "The state has always maintained that Deputy Kelly lost
sight of Rosario eight seconds before the first shots rang out and that
Rosario was about 470 feet away from the pair. There’s no way Rosario
could have run that far in eight seconds. The shooting transcript shows the following: Twenty-three
minutes before sunrise, Officer Kelly radios in to say he’s chasing one
suspect. Forty-three seconds later, Officer Hill radios to say, “I’ve
got one in custody.” Eighteen seconds later, Officer Kelly radios, “I
got any units in route to me?” Eighteen seconds after that, he radios
in, “I lost him on the bayou.” And eight seconds after that, the first
shot can be heard on the radio, then gasping sounds, then more shots.
Hence, the state’s eight-second logic. But, as Will points out, during the trial Kelly testified that he lost sight of Rosario before
asking his dispatcher about units en route, which was a full 26 seconds
before the first shot and not eight seconds — plenty of time for an
athletic guy like Rosario to cover the distance to Hill and Will. But
the state’s version of events has remained unquestioned, so frustrating
Will that in 2010 he took it upon himself to write Judge Ellison
directly, laying out what’s so clear to him in the timeline, and ending
with, “Petitioner has been writing nonstop all weekend, passing out and
waking back up, and writing, and doing nothing else."
----------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE FIVE: “And that’s another thing,” he says. “This is an almost
20-year-old wound, right? Now the state said that I supposedly shot the
officer from six inches away. Well, if I fired from six inches, blood
and bone and the tops of my knuckles are going to be all over
everything. But none of my blood was on the deputy’s clothes. At all. So
what does that mean? Well, guess what? The state’s theory is completely
fictitious. There’s no physical evidence. With all their unlimited
funds, all they could come up with was, ‘Boy, he sure acted like
somebody who was not a good person, like a killer.’ ” That and a drop of
Will’s blood on the officer’s shoes."
---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------
The entire article can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S
NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles
Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous
employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable
effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his
protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric
pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on
recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL
WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever
there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal
system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent
future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
------------------------------------------------------------------
SUB-HEADING: For two decades, Rob Will has been on death row for the murder of a cop. But activists say there is enough additional evidence to save him.
PASSAGE ONE: "Will’s case has gotten a good bit of attention over the years, with a 2012 write-up in The New York Times detailing just how suspect the original verdict and subsequent appeals were; more recently, his plight has been championed by Jason Flom, a social-justice activist who hosts the Wrongful Conviction podcast and, as the music-industry CEO of Lava Records, has launched the careers of, among others, Katy Perry, Kid Rock, and Lorde. On Will’s behalf, Flom has put together a couple of successful New York events featuring the convict’s paintings, with the proceeds going to his defense fund. And it’s he who got Dr. Phil fired up about Will’s case. Flom: “What’s happened to Rob is about as bad as it gets. I mean, you look at the evidence and it’s clear from the start he didn’t kill anyone.” Dr. Phil: “Having been trained in forensic psychology and spent many years in the litigation arena, I am appalled. The mismanagement of this case and the attendant evidence is nothing short of monumental.”
--------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE TWO: "On December 4th, 2000, with dawn just about to break on a Houston bayou, Harris County deputy sheriffs Barrett Hill, 38, and Warren Kelly rolled up on a few guys stripping parts from cars; the thieves immediately took off on foot. Kelly chased Michael “Rock-e” Rosario, 22, in one direction, while Hill hustled after Rob Will, 22, in another, caught up to him and radioed in to say, “I’ve got one in custody.” Shortly thereafter, Kelly lost sight of Rosario and asked the dispatcher for backup. And then he heard shots ring out. A bit later, his partner was found dead on the ground, riddled with bullet holes, and no Will, who fled the scene, commandeered a car, and was arrested without incident 70 miles away, with the murder weapon, a .40-caliber Sig Sauer pistol, on him and blood pouring from a bullet wound on his left hand. He was charged with capital murder and convicted in 2002 inside a courtroom packed with uniformed police officers, with the lead prosecutor telling the jury, “What really we learned from September 11th is that evil exists in the world. The embodiment of evil . . . manifested itself in Robert Gene Will II.” Will has long maintained that Hill had him in handcuffs at the time of the shooting and that Rosario, the son of a Houston cop, had circled around, come upon them, and shot Hill multiple times, in the head, neck, wrist, and chest, wounding his buddy in the process. And then both took off again. For reasons that remain unclear, the cops didn’t seem to care much about Rosario, however. He was charged with and convicted of theft. (Rosario could not be reached for comment on this story; according to The New York Times, however, one of his former attorneys has said that Rosario has repeatedly denied that he murdered Deputy Hill.) Additionally, Will’s hands were tested for gunpowder residue and found to be clean. During one of the trial’s most damning moments, the woman whose car Will hijacked testified that he told her he’d just shot a cop. On the day her car was stolen, however, she didn’t mention that fact in any of the eight conversations she had with officers, even though she knew a cop had just been killed. She didn’t remember it until the prosecutor was prepping her for the trial, 13 months later."
------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE THREE: "In the 18 years since Will’s conviction, the twists and
turns in his case, as raised on appeal, or messed up on appeal, have
gotten ever more convoluted and disturbing, such that the whole thing
has devolved into what federal Judge Keith Ellison of the Southern
District of Texas has called “a procedural imbroglio.” To name a few: New jailhouse witnesses stepped forward
with sworn affidavits stating that Rosario confessed the crime to them.
Also, another inmate, in a sworn affidavit, said that Rosario had
attempted to put a hit out on Will, presumably to silence him. Despite
the new statements, Will’s appeals were denied."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE FOUR: "The state has always maintained that Deputy Kelly lost
sight of Rosario eight seconds before the first shots rang out and that
Rosario was about 470 feet away from the pair. There’s no way Rosario
could have run that far in eight seconds. The shooting transcript shows the following: Twenty-three
minutes before sunrise, Officer Kelly radios in to say he’s chasing one
suspect. Forty-three seconds later, Officer Hill radios to say, “I’ve
got one in custody.” Eighteen seconds later, Officer Kelly radios, “I
got any units in route to me?” Eighteen seconds after that, he radios
in, “I lost him on the bayou.” And eight seconds after that, the first
shot can be heard on the radio, then gasping sounds, then more shots.
Hence, the state’s eight-second logic. But, as Will points out, during the trial Kelly testified that he lost sight of Rosario before
asking his dispatcher about units en route, which was a full 26 seconds
before the first shot and not eight seconds — plenty of time for an
athletic guy like Rosario to cover the distance to Hill and Will. But
the state’s version of events has remained unquestioned, so frustrating
Will that in 2010 he took it upon himself to write Judge Ellison
directly, laying out what’s so clear to him in the timeline, and ending
with, “Petitioner has been writing nonstop all weekend, passing out and
waking back up, and writing, and doing nothing else."
----------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE FIVE: “And that’s another thing,” he says. “This is an almost
20-year-old wound, right? Now the state said that I supposedly shot the
officer from six inches away. Well, if I fired from six inches, blood
and bone and the tops of my knuckles are going to be all over
everything. But none of my blood was on the deputy’s clothes. At all. So
what does that mean? Well, guess what? The state’s theory is completely
fictitious. There’s no physical evidence. With all their unlimited
funds, all they could come up with was, ‘Boy, he sure acted like
somebody who was not a good person, like a killer.’ ” That and a drop of
Will’s blood on the officer’s shoes."
---------------------------------------------------
The entire article can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
------------------------------------------------------------------
