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Thread: Robert Royce Byford - Nevada Death Row

  1. #1
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    Robert Royce Byford - Nevada Death Row




    Summary of Offense:

    Sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of Monica Wilkins, 18.

  2. #2
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    September 23, 2010

    Court upholds death penalty in 1991 killing of teen girl

    CARSON CITY – Robert Byford, convicted of the murder of an 18-year old girl in the desert outside Las Vegas, has failed to convince the Nevada Supreme Court that the death penalty is unconstitutional.

    The court, in a unanimous 35-page opinion today, rejected claims by Byford that his trial and appeal attorneys were ineffective and he deserves a new trial.

    Byford, now 39, and Christopher Williams, now 37, were convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Monica Wilkins in 1991. The Supreme Court overturned their convictions after the first trial, but they were convicted at a second trial.

    Byford was sentenced to death and Williams received a life term without the possibility of parole.

    In its ruling, it said “This court has held that the death penalty does not violate the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment found either in the United States Constitution or the Nevada Constitution.”

    At the time of the killing, Byford, then 20 years old, and Williams, who was 17, complained that Wilkins was always “playing games with our heads.” On the night of the murder in March 1991, Wilkins told the two there was a party in the desert outside Las Vegas.

    But they didn’t find a party. Williams shot her several times, then Byford took the gun and shot her twice in the head. Byford then got a can of gasoline and poured it on Wilkins and set her afire. Her body was buried later.

    Among his claims of errors, Byford said his lawyers failed to adequately object to the move by the district attorney’s office to remove two prospective jurors who opposed the death penalty.

    The court said the jurors who were chosen indicated they could consider all the sentencing options.

    http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010...ing-teen-girl/

  3. #3
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On February 15, 2011, Byford filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/nev...cv00112/79385/

  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Petition Denied

    In a separate case, the court rejected a petition by Robert Byford, sentenced to death in 1994 for the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Monica Wilkins, whose body was burned in the desert outside Las Vegas.

    The court rejected Byford’s claim that his court-appointed attorney on appeal was ineffective and that the prosecution withheld evidence.

    https://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/se...for-death-row/
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  5. #5
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Byford's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Nevada
    Case Nos.: (64268)
    Decision date: September 22, 2016
    Rehearing denied: December 21, 2016
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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