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Thread: Steven James Murray Sentenced to LWOP in 2016 GA Murder of Father Rene Robert

  1. #11
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Slain priest's statement against death penalty at issue in murder case

    ST. AUGUSTINE — The Rev. Rene Robert devoted his life to helping society's most troubled, working with drug addicts and criminals and even signing a “Declaration of Life” that called for his killer to be spared execution in the event of his murder.

    More than two decades after filing that document, his wish will be tested.

    Robert's body — shot multiple times — was found in the Georgia woods last year after a multistate manhunt led to the arrest of Steven Murray, a repeat offender Robert had been trying to help for months.

    Police said Murray asked the 71-year-old priest for a ride in Jacksonville, then kidnapped him and drove him across the state line. Days later, Murray led officers to the priest's body, police said.

    Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if Murray is convicted of murder, citing the slaying's aggravated nature. That decision was based on the facts alone, Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Ashley Wright told The Associated Press.

    “We don't look at whether the victim is a priest, a nun, a philanthropist, a drug dealer or something else,” she said.

    But Catholic officials from Georgia and Florida plan to protest Tuesday on the courthouse steps in Augusta, citing Robert's own words opposing capital punishment.

    “I request that the person found guilty of homicide for my killing not be subject to or put in jeopardy of the death penalty under any circumstances, no matter how heinous their crime or how much I may have suffered,” states the document Robert signed in 1995, notarized and witnessed by an attorney, that he insisted be kept in his personnel file.

    Prosecutors frequently don't have access to the wishes of a murder suspect's victim when making such decisions, let alone a statement so clearly opposed to capital punishment. Even so, it's one of many factors, and the choice ultimately is the prosecutor's, said Georgia State University law professor Lauren Sudeall Lucas, who lectures on capital punishment.

    “There's not a lot of legal precedent for this having any real impact,” she said.

    On a more subjective level, she said, a prosecutor could decide not to seek the death penalty because of Robert's statement. But ultimately the district attorney represents the state, not the victim, she added.

    Murray's attorney, Ryan Swingle, has been a public defender for 15 years, working exclusively on capital cases for the last four. He's inspired by people like Robert, he said.

    “It is both my personal and professional hope that his sincere wishes based on his faith will be honored,” Swingle said. He's not sure what weight Robert's declaration will be given by the state, court or jury, but said “it should be considered thoughtfully by everyone involved.”

    Murray smiled and waved at TV cameras during his initial court appearance but has waffled between sorrow and defiance in public.

    “I'm very sorry and if anybody really loves Father Rene, they'll forgive me because he was a man of God and forgiveness is forgiveness,” he said after an early hearing in April. “I have mental problems, and I lost control of myself, and I apologize.”

    Murray struck a harsh tone after another hearing in September: “Tell the world I say f--- `em,” he told reporters.

    Asked about his client's statements, Swingle said “I think he's expressed sincere remorse and has done so publicly, and I think that speaks for itself.”

    Since his latest arrest, Murray has twice attempted to kill himself in jail. He didn't respond to an interview request mailed to the Clayton County jail near Atlanta.

    Murray grew up in South Carolina in an abusive family, said his sister Bobbie Jean Murray. A brother is in prison for murder, their father's been in and out of prison, and the abuse led Murray to drugs and crime at an early age. He met the priest through a girlfriend, Ashley Shreve; the couple did drugs together, and Robert often gave them money, against their families' wishes.

    “They used him, no doubt,” Bobbie Jean Murray said. “He gave Ashley a credit card. They used Father Rene to get what they wanted, and I do feel like he was an enabler.”

    Robert was so devoted to addicts that he'd lend them his car and walk home alone through high-crime neighborhoods, according to colleagues at San Sebastian Catholic Church in St. Augustine, Florida.

    His compassion for the poor compelled him to scrape leftovers from dinner plates into baggies to feed people in the streets, the colleagues said.

    “He spent almost all of his money on others and then begged for himself,” said the Rev. John Gillespie, the first to report the fellow priest missing. “I teach to students: Do the things Rene did, but don't do them the way he did them.”

    Fran Gradick, Shreve's mother, said a bank card in her daughter's name, linked to Robert's bank account, showed up in the mail after her daughter overdosed and went to jail, just before Robert disappeared.

    “I begged him for years, this goes back 13 years, `please step away, please quit,“’ Gradick said.

    Robert always honored the privacy of the people to whom he ministered, even when relatives had questions, said the Rev. Heriberto Vergara, who worked with Robert in prisons. They considered their work with even the most violent criminals to be like any confession — a private spiritual matter.

    “He had the conviction of a priest that these people also are important to God,” Vergara said in Spanish.

    Robert's sister, Deborah Bedard, initially wanted Murray to be executed but told The Florida Times-Union newspaper she changed her mind after learning of her brother's letter.

    Murray's sister sees the letter as heaven-sent.

    “I feel like that was an act of God,” Bobbie Jean Murray said. “I'm praying for a miracle, and God's got it in his hands.”

    http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...130-story.html

  2. #12
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Accused killer of St. Augustine priest to plead guilty

    Sister of Father Rene Robert says plea change a relief for loved ones

    By Jim Piggott and Chris Parenteau
    News4JAX.com

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A man indicted in the killing of a St. Augustine priest last year has agreed to plead guilty in a Georgia court in exchange for a sentence of life without parole, according to a the Diocese of St. Augustine and the victim's sister.

    A sentencing hearing for Steven Murray is scheduled for Oct. 18 in Waynesboro, Ga.

    Murray is accused of kidnapping Father Rene Robert, killing him and dumping his body in Georgia. Robert's sister, Deborah Bedard, confirmed to News4Jax that she was contacted by the district attorney, who told her Murray will be changing his plea to guilty.

    "My message for him is I hope he sees my brother's face every day. I hope a day does not go by knowing what he has done and how he has affected all our lives," Bedard said of Murray. "I feel this weight has been lifted off my shoulders and we're very happy."

    She said Robert was a gentle soul and a gentleman, and she wants to know why Murray killed him.

    "My brother and I have been praying for this -- my other brother, Brian, we've been praying for this, because my brother, Father Rene, was so against the death penalty," Bedard said. "I'm glad he's getting life in prison without parole."

    Investigators said Robert was last seen about 1 p.m. on April 10, 2016. Sometime after that, prosecutors said, Murray asked for permission, then borrowed Robert’s car and got the priest to ride with him.

    Murray finally told Robert they were leaving the state and heading to Murray’s hometown to see his children, prosecutors said.

    On April 11, investigators said Murray was denied access to his 13-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter, who live in Aiken County, South Carolina.

    That’s when Murray made Robert get in the trunk of his own car, according to prosecutors.

    “While (Robert was) in the trunk, Murray committed multiple burglaries, stealing primarily firearms. Some of the homes he burglarized were people he knew, however, not all of them,” Assistant District Attorney Joanna Mastney said.

    Eventually, they came to Highway 56, near River Road in Burke County, Georgia, where prosecutors said Murray got Robert out of the trunk, shot him and left him dead on April 11, 2016, and then returned to Florida.

    Murray is also charged with aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude deputies in St. Johns County after a high-speed chase into Jacksonville on April 12, where police lost Murray. A few days after he was arrested in Aiken County, South Carolina and returned to St. Augustine, investigators said Murray began to cooperate with them, leading them to the priest’s body on April 18.

    In Aiken, South Carolina, where police say he crashed Robert’s car, Murray faces charges of grand larceny and unlawful possession of a firearm.

    Since his arrest in late April, Murray has been held without bond.

    “I am pleased an agreement has been reached between the State of Georgia and Steven Murray,” said Bishop Felipe Estévez of the Diocese of St. Augustine.

    He said Murray deserves to be punished for the brutal murder of Robert.

    “This decision is just and will help Father Robert’s loved ones find closure without the anguish of enduring years of court proceedings,” Estévez said.

    Estevez described Robert as a merciful servant of God who ministered to anyone in need, including men and women who were incarcerated and considered to be dangerous. He strongly opposed capital punishment and in 1995 left a signed Declaration of Life with his personal records declaring that should he become a victim of a homicide, he does not want those convicted of his crime executed no matter how heinous the crime or how much he may have suffered.

    https://www.news4jax.com/news/accuse...o-plead-guilty
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #13
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    It’s life in prison for St. Augustine priest’s tormented killer

    By Eileen Kelley
    The Florida Times-Union

    WAYNESBORO, GA. | A shackled Steven James Murray was ushered into an old historic courtroom on Liberty Street Wednesday for what was his last glimpse of a free society — a society that in many ways failed the 30-year-old.

    Sitting in the Georgia courtroom were Bobbie Jean and Crystal Murray, sisters he hasn’t laid eyes on for 1 1/2 years since he was arrested for killing Father Rene Wayne Robert, a 71-year-old priest from St. Augustine. Also sitting there was an aunt and an old family friend, women who tried to pull the Murray children away from the horrors of their childhoods in Aiken, S.C., where they grew up.

    Steven Murray patted his chest and mouthed the words “I love you” as he looked at them and walked past a table that bore a large cardboard box that said these words: Steven Murray Death Row.

    But Murray will be spared from death row. During an emotional 45-minute proceeding Wednesday at the Burke County Courthouse in Waynesboro, Murray agreed to waive his right to a trial and any sort of appeal when he pleaded guilty to murder and an assortment of charges related to Robert’s death.

    Robert believed in helping those like Murray — people on the fringe of society who bounced in and out of existence after terms of incarceration. Robert also believed strongly in the abolition of the death penalty. So much so in 1995 he signed what is called a Declaration of Life that says should he ever die by homicide, his killer should not be put to death.

    Their lives intersected at a time in Murray’s life when most had given up on him and he was spiraling out of control. In the midst of helping him on April 10, 2016, Murray told Robert to get in the the trunk of his car. After driving from the Jacksonville area for long periods in South Carolina and Georgia to see family, Murray let Robert out of the car and followed him into the Georgia woods.

    He fired his gun striking Robert in the left side. As Robert lay on the ground, Murray fired the gun into his head. He then drove back to Jacksonville and a day later escaped police in a high-speed chase. Murray was eventually pulled from the woods in South Carolina.

    Murray detailed the crime in extensive and exclusive interviews with the Times-Union last year. He said he snapped when the priest told him he’d go back to prison. In court Wednesday the district attorney outlined the last days of Robert’s life and the manhunt for Murray by repeating much of what Murray said in tape-recorded interviews with the paper.

    District Attorney Natalie Paine withdrew her predecessor’s plans to seek the death penalty and allowed Murray to take a plea deal of a life sentence in prison.

    “Steven Murray absolutely deserved the death penalty for what he did,” Paine said. “He’s a very dangerous and violent man.”

    Judge James Blanchard admonished Murray by saying Robert was a man of honorable characteristics, faith and goodness — traits Murray doesn’t bare.

    “Father Rene Robert,” the judge said, “is speaking from the grave and asking that you be given another chance.” The judge then encouraged Murray to find religion and hope for salvation as he hinted at hell because mercy, he suggested, wasn’t a guarantee.

    Murray, 30, was arrested at the age of 11 so he could escape his abusive father. He has spent about half his life behind bars. Now he’ll never get get out.

    Murray told The Times-Union the man he planned to kill all along was his father, Bobby James Murray, whom he blames for ruining his life after sexually abusing him and forcing him to molest his sisters, shoot drugs into his arms and commit crimes. Much of the nightmares of Murray’s childhood was laid out in court Wednesday.

    His attorney Adam Levin explained to the judge that the people who should have protected Murray failed him from an early age on. He explained how at the age of 6, he had the language skills of a 2-year-old and an IQ of 68, which is considered intellectually disabled. Levin said not long before Murray killed Robert, Murray sought help in an emergency room to help him process the demons of his life.

    Murray, who often had his head down and didn’t display some of his past swagger in court, told the judge he knew Robert’s family must be seeking an answer as to why he did what he did.

    “All I can say is I didn’t mean to do it,” he said politely.

    Murray’s sisters cried on and off throughout the proceeding. They too had been tormented and tortured by their father, the newspaper exposed last year after reviewing thousands of pages of social service documents and police reports. The sisters had been instrumental back in Jacksonville when they called the authorities to say they thought the priest may be in danger. Little did they know how gravely in danger the 71-year-old was.

    Robert’s nephew Shaun McAndrews said he understood that Murray was extremely violent and a product of his childhood, but that still doesn’t erase what he did to his uncle.

    “He will have to think about it for the rest of his life,” McAndrews said in court. “And I hope he does every single day. I hope he loses sleep over it every single night.”

    Following the proceeding, Murray was led out of the old courthouse by five sheriff’s deputies. As he was put in the cruiser he lifted one of his handcuffed hands and waived goodbye.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/public-...rmented-killer
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #14
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Priest's killer: I could have gotten away with murder if I'd kept my mouth shut

    Steven Murray admits he shot and killed Father Rene Robert in Georgia

    By Joy Purdy
    WJXT News4JAX

    WAYNESBORO, Ga. - The 30-year-old man serving a life sentence for killing a 71-year-old St. Augustine priest who had tried to help him get his life back on track told detectives after his arrest in April 2016 that he "lost my stuff," adding, "I shot him."

    Surveillance video of his initial interview with Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigators obtained by News4Jax, Steven Murray confessed that he kidnapped and murdered Father Rene Robert before dumping his body off Highway 56 in North Georgia. He was quiet and matter-of-fact in describing that happened.

    As he drove Robert's car north with the priest in the truck, Murray said Robert called out to him.

    "I'm riding, you know, and Father Rene, he's talking to me ... telling me, 'You know you're never going to get away with this, you know.' And I had no intention of hurting him," Murray told the detectives.

    Murray described what happened when he finally stopped in a remote area near the Georgia-South Carolina border to let Robert out of the trunk to use the bathroom.

    "I pulled over in that spot where ya'll ... got him from, you know, and ... I backed up right there and he said he had to use the bathroom, you know. So I let him out to use the bathroom ... and I lost my stuff, you know. I shot him."

    According to the police report, he shot the priest in the face.

    Murray, who had been in and out of prison since he was 11 years old, said that not being able to see his kids really took a toll on him, making him reckless.

    "I could have gotten away with the murder if I had kept my mouth shut," Murray said.

    Murray even told the detectives how and why he should pay for his crime.

    "Trying to make sense of this, you know. But you can't, you know. The damage is done, and ... I just really hope y'all f**** kill me for it."

    Prosecutors had vowed to seek the death penalty despite Robert's adamant opposition to execution. In a 1995 declaration of life he signed, Robert asked that if he was ever murdered, that his killer would not receive the death penalty.

    Last fall, Murray pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murder in Burke County, Georgia. During that hearing, Murray apologized to Robert's family.

    Because Murray pleaded guilty, he was sentenced to life in prison.

    https://www.news4jax.com/news/killer...laying-priest_
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

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