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Thread: Fred Lawrence Robinson - Arizona

  1. #1
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    Fred Lawrence Robinson - Arizona




    Facts of the Crime:

    Robinson and Susan Hill lived together for a number of years. Beginning in 1984, Susan made several efforts to leave Robinson, but he always forced her to return. In February 1987, Susan left Robinson for a week to visit her father, Ralph Hill, and stepmother, Sterleen Hill, in Yuma. After this visit, Susan went to California to live with other relatives and did not tell Robinson.

    On June 8, 1987, Robinson decided to go to Yuma and bring Susan back. Robinson persuaded his friends, Theodore Washington and Jimmy Mathers, to go with him. The men loaded Robinson's car with weapons and drove to Yuma. Washington was wearing a red bandanna.

    At about 11:45 p.m., two men entered the Hills' home, forced Mr. and Mrs. Hill to lie on their bedroom floor and tied them up. A black man wearing a red bandanna held a gun to Mr. Hill's head, then ransacked the drawers and closet while the second man stood over the Hills. One of the men shot the Hills with a 12-gauge shotgun. Mrs. Hill died from her wounds but Mr. Hill survived.

    Washington, Robinson and Mathers were tried jointly and each received the death penalty. On appeal the state supreme court reversed Mathers' conviction, finding insufficient evidence to support the jury verdict.

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Death sentence appeal could result in murder case return to Yuma

    A man sentenced to death for a crime in Yuma County could face a new sentencing trial after a ruling by the district court.

    In 1988, Fred Lawrence Robinson was sentenced to death after being convicted of a 1987 murder.

    According to court records, Robinson and two friends drove to Yuma from Banning, Calif. The three men were looking for Robinson's common law wife, Susan Hill, and entered the home of Yuma couple Ralph and Sterleen Hill.

    According to the court records, two of the men tied up the couple. Sterleen Hill was shot in the back of the head and Ralph Hill was shot in the back, both with a shotgun. Ralph Hill survived with severe injuries and Sterleen Hill died.

    After unsuccessfully appealing his sentence, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which presides over the state of Arizona, reversed the penalty phase of the case.

    According to the conclusion by the court, it ruled that the district court erred when it applied the especially cruel, heinous or depraved conduct to his case.

    The conclusion says the court believes Robinson received ineffective assistance of counsel in the penalty phase and is entitled to relief in the form of a new penalty phase trial.

    Out of the three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Johnnie B. Rawlinson dissented.

    Kent Cattani, chief council over capital litigation with the Arizona Attorney General's Office, said because there was dissent, now the case will go for further review.

    "We're definitely going to seek further review before it goes back for sentencing," he said.

    Cattani said the case could go to a panel of judges from the Ninth Circuit called an En Bank Court, which is a panel smaller than the 29 judges that make up the circuit. Or, he said, it could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    If either court doesn't hear the case, it could come back to Yuma County, Cattani said.

    Cattani said if Robinson's sentence is changed, he could get credit for the time he has already served.

    Cattani said he expects the petition for rehearing to be submitted "fairly soon."

    http://www.yumasun.com/news/court-56528-hill-case.html

    Opinion here: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastor...2/05-99007.pdf

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    The petition for cert presented by the State was denied by the US Supreme Court in today's orders.

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    U.S. Supreme Court won't stop hearing in Yuma slaying

    The U.S. Supreme Court won’t stop a California man sentenced in the 1987 killing of a Yuma woman from getting a new sentencing hearing.

    The high court on Monday turned down appeals from Arizona officials in Fred Lawrence Robinson’s case. The state attorney general had filed an appeal after the 9th Circuit ordered Robinson receive a new sentencing hearing.

    Robinson was one of three men originally convicted and sentenced to death in the killing of Sterleen Hill in her Yuma home 23 years ago. The other men were Jimmy Lee Mathers and Theodore Washington.

    According to Yuma Sun file stories, Robinson, who was accused of masterminding the plan, met Susan Hill in 1972 through a motorcycle club. Eventually she became his common-law wife and had three children by him.

    Beginning in 1984, Hill, who had suffered a great deal of mental and physical abuse at the hands of Robinson, made several efforts to leave him. However, Robinson always managed to track her down and promised that he would one day deal with her so that she would never leave him.

    In February 1987, Hill left Robinson for a week to visit her father and stepmother, Sterleen Hill, in Yuma. After that visit, Susan Hill went to California to live with other relatives and did not tell Robinson.

    Prosecutors during the trial said that in June of that year, Robinson, who lived in Banning, Calif., decided to go to Yuma and bring Susan Hill back. He persuaded his friends, Washington and Mathers, to go with him. The men loaded Robinson’s car with weapons and drove from Banning to Yuma. Washington was wearing a red bandanna.

    Later that same day, at about 11:45 p.m., two men claiming to be narcotics officers burst into the Hills’ Yuma home. The men forced the couple to lie on their bedroom floor and tied them up. A man wearing a red bandanna held a gun to the husband’s head, then ransacked the drawers and closet while the second man stood over the Hills.

    One of the men shot the Hills with a 12-gauge shotgun. Sterleen Hill, who was shot in the back, died from her wounds. Her husband, who was shot in the head, survived.

    Washington, Robinson and Mathers, who all belonged to the same Banning motorcycle gang, were tried jointly and each was sentenced to the death penalty. On appeal, the state Supreme Court reversed Mathers’ conviction, finding in 1990 that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict.

    In overturning Robinson’s death sentence, judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in February of this year that he did not have an effective lawyer and that the courts arbitrarily said the crime was committed in “cruel, heinous or depraved manner.”

    Washington remains on death row awaiting execution.

    http://www.yumasun.com/news/stop-652...ashington.html

  5. #5
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Now cert has been denied, have there been any hints of how the state will now deal with the case?
    Just a guess, but considering the facts of the crime and the length of time it has taken to get this far, I have doubts there going to be looking towards the death penalty.
    Last edited by JLR; 04-07-2011 at 05:08 PM.

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