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Thread: Robert Lee Yates, Jr. - Washington

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    State Supreme Court rejects serial killer Yates’ petition

    The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday again rejected an effort by serial killer Robert Yates to overturn his convictions and death sentence.

    Yates contended he received ineffective counsel during his 2002 trial, in which he received the death penalty. The high court affirmed his convictions and sentence in 2007.

    State law requires that so-called personal restraint petitions must come within a year of the judgment and sentence becoming final. Yates waited seven years to file his petition, so the Supreme Court unanimously rejected it as untimely.

    In an agreement with prosecutors, Yates pleaded guilty to murdering a total of 13 women in Spokane, Walla Walla and Skagit counties. He was later convicted of murdering two women in Pierce County and sentenced to death for those crimes.

    The Supreme Court in 2013 rejected Yates’ effort to challenge his death sentence on grounds that included ineffective counsel.

    Yates filed his latest petition in 2014, this time claiming his lawyers failed to argue that his trial in Pierce County was improper.

    “Yates argues that although the two bodies were found in Pierce County, it is possible that the murders actually occurred in King County,” the opinion said.

    As part of his latest petition, Yates’ lawyers filed declarations stating it never occurred to them to file a motion for improper venue.

    But the Supreme Court found Yates’ latest petition did not warrant an exception to the one-year rule.

    “There is no newly discovered evidence involved in Yates’s claim,” the opinion said. “The only thing ‘new’ here is that Yates’s new attorney has a new idea for a claim.”

    Yates, 63, was an Army veteran who moved with his family to Spokane in the mid-1990s.

    From 1996 to 1998, he killed at least 13 women who worked as prostitutes along Spokane’s notorious East Sprague Avenue. He buried at least one of his victims outside his bedroom window on Spokane’s upscale South Hill.

    After his capture, Yates also confessed to two Walla Walla murders in 1975 and a 1988 murder in Skagit County.

    He is on death row at the Washington State Penitentiary.

    http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-...ates-petition/
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  2. #12
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Case of serial killer Robert Yates heading back to state Supreme Court

    The case of Spokane serial killer Robert Yates is heading back to the state Supreme Court, but it’s unlikely he’ll ever be a free man.

    Yates is asking the high court to grant him a new sentencing hearing for two murders he committed in 1975.

    He contends the consecutive 20-year sentences were calculated incorrectly, because the two murders occurred before the state revised its sentencing guidelines in 1981.

    The Spokesman-Review says that is the same argument he made in 2014, when the court ruled he was technically correct. But the court said that doesn’t mean Yates can have those cases thrown out.

    Yates in 2000 pleaded guilty to 13 counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder in Spokane County Superior Court. He’s also on death row from two convictions in Pierce County.

    http://q13fox.com/2016/09/28/case-of...supreme-court/
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  3. #13
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    Heidi, thanks for the update. I really like this website because it is very informative on courts and the various cases.

  4. #14
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Spokane serial killer back in court

    SEATTLE, Wash. (KXLY) - Spokane serial killer Robert Yates will try again this week to put a stop to his execution.

    Yates filed a writ of habeas corpus, hoping for a stay. He has tried many times, including appealing to the Washington Supreme Court. The Court unanimously rejected his request in 2015.

    The hearing in federal court in Seattle this week is an evidentiary hearing to examine some of the 15 claims Yates makes for why he should not be put to death.

    Yates killed more than a dozen women in Spokane in the 1990s. After his arrest, he admitted killing two people in Walla Walla in 1975 and another murder in Skagit County. Yates pleaded guilty to those crimes and was sentenced to life in prison. He was convicted of killing two women in Pierce County as well; it is those crimes for which he was sentenced to death.

    Among Yates' contentions is that he alleges a juror was biased and "stated she intended to write a book about her experiences as a juror." He also claims his Pierce County defense attorneys provided ineffective counsel; he alleges "that defense counsel advised Yates to plead guilty to the murder charges that were then pending in Spokane County."

    The claim also contends that "defense counsel provided ineffective assistance in the penalty phase by failing to competently investigate Yates's sexual deviancy disorder (necrophilia) and his future dangerousness."

    He has been moved from the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla to Seattle for the duration of his hearing.

    Yates is one of eight men sentenced to death, currently awaiting execution in Washington. Governor Jay Inslee has placed a moratorium on all executions in the state.

    http://www.kapptv.com/article/2017/m...er-back-court/

  5. #15
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Spokane Serial Killer Bob Yates Was Sentenced to Death Almost 20 Years Ago, Here's Why He's Still Alive

    By Emy LaCroix
    In Touch

    Serial killer Robert Lee "Bob" Yates committed some of the most gruesome murders Washington has ever seen. The quiet husband and father's 18 slayings were so horrible that he was sentenced to death. Yet, somehow, nearly 20 years after sentencing, he's still rotting away in Washington State Penitentiary.

    Yates made a habit of picking up young female prostitutes in the "Skid Row" area of Spokane, WA, having sex with them, and then murdering them. He admitted he did this to 13 women from 1996 to 1998. All 13 women were found dumped around the rural town, with a precise gunshot wound to their head. This clearly pointed to Bob's history in the military, where he spent 18 years and won several medals of honor.

    Yates was nearly caught when a woman he assaulted, shot, and robbed escaped him and went to police in 1998. One month later, he was asked for a DNA sample, but insisted that as a "family man," he couldn't oblige such an extreme request. Two years later in 2002, he was arrested in connection with another murder. At that time police searched his car, finding DNA evidence to link him to 12 more slayings.

    Thanks to a plea bargain, Yates escaped the death penalty for the 13 murders, instead getting 408 years in prison. The death penalty finally came in 2002 when he was charged with another two killings in Pierce County. He has also since confessed to two Walla Walla murders in 1975 and another in 1988 in Skagit County. Even with a grand total of 18 murders under his belt, Yates felt that he should not receive the lethal injection he was sentenced to. He has claimed that he's a necrophiliac, and it was the fault of his mental illness that he committed the crimes. Though his appeals keep failing, he is still alive thanks to the fact that Washington Governor Jay Inslee refuses to sign any death orders while he's in office. So here we are, nearly 20 years after Yates first went to prison, and he's still alive and well in jail.

    http://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/b...-killer-153317
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  6. #16
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Washington Supreme Court tosses out state’s death penalty

    OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington state’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the death penalty, as applied, violates its Constitution.

    The ruling Thursday makes Washington the latest state to do away with capital punishment. The court was unanimous in its order that the eight people currently on death row have their sentences converted to life in prison. Five justices said the “death penalty is invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner.”

    “Given the manner in which it is imposed, the death penalty also fails to serve any legitimate penological goals,” the justices wrote.

    Four other justices, in a concurrence, wrote that while they agreed with the majority’s conclusions and invalidation of the death penalty, “additional state constitutional principles compel this result.”

    Gov. Jay Inslee, a one-time supporter of capital punishment, had imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in 2014, saying that no executions would take place while he’s in office.

    In a written statement, Inslee called the ruling “a hugely important moment in our pursuit for equal and fair application of justice.”

    “The court makes it perfectly clear that capital punishment in our state has been imposed in an ‘arbitrary and racially biased manner,’ is ‘unequally applied’ and serves no criminal justice goal,” Inslee wrote.

    The ruling was in the case of Allen Eugene Gregory, who was convicted of raping, robbing and killing Geneine Harshfield, a 43-year-old woman, in 1996.

    His lawyers said the death penalty is arbitrarily applied and that it is not applied proportionally, as the state Constitution requires.

    In its ruling Thursday, the high court did not reconsider any of Gregory’s arguments pertaining to guilty, noting that his conviction for aggravated first degree murder “has already been appealed and affirmed by this court.”

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...death-penalty/
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  7. #17
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Where is Robert Lee Yates Now?

    Investigation Discovery, with the help of their show ‘The Spokane Serial Killer: An American Monster,’ takes a peek at the lives of Robert Lee Yates who, at first glance, may as well be your neighbor. His facades and damning secrets are brought to life through meticulous investigations and interviews. In the show, the audience is made privy to someone who was pretty much living a double life.

    Who is Robert Lee Yates?

    Robert Lee Yates Jr. was born on May 27, 1952, and grew up in a middle-class family in Oak Harbor, Washington. In 1970, he graduated from Oak Harbor High School. He then married his first wife, Shirley Nylander when he was 20 years old. He also enrolled in pre-med at the Walla Walla College. They got divorced two years later, and he then worked at the Washington State Penitentiary as a corrections officer in 1975 for a few months. He also tied the knot with his second wife, Linda, a few months later.

    It seemed as though Robert could not hold a job outside the military. So, by 1977, he had enrolled in the US Army and was certified to fly some civilian transport planes and helicopters. He was posted internationally as well, and some of the countries he went to were Germany, and eventually, Haiti and Somalia for UN peacekeeping missions.

    After 19 years in service, Robert retired with a stellar career graph in April 1996. He had received many accolades and service medals including the US Army Master Aviator Badge. The military, at that time, was diminishing its numbers, and so Robert was granted an early retirement with full pension and benefits. This was clearly not an ordinary situation, and if the Army was not downsizing, Yates would have had to serve another year and a half before being eligible for full retirement with benefits.

    Robert and Linda went on to have five children— one son and four daughters. The family settled in Spokane. It seemed as though he was an almost perfect embodiment of the good ole’ fashioned American spirit— a patriot who served his country, a married man, and a doting father who enjoyed hunting and fishing. He was anything but atypical.

    Well, this stark reputation was replaced with the moniker of a serial killer by April 2000. The truth was that Yates carried out horrific murders between 1975 and 1998. Almost all of these crimes involved sex workers on Spokane’s East Sprague Avenue, who died due to gunshot wounds to the head. His process was that after approaching them, (in many cases) he would have sex with them. Then, sometimes, they did drugs together, after which he killed them and disposed of their bodies.

    Christine Smith was a sex worker who survived a murder attempt at Yates’s hands and had also been robbed by him. This happened in 1998, and she was 32 years old at the time. She went straight to the police and gave them a description of her assaulter. Meanwhile, in September of that year, the police asked Yates for a DNA sample, which he refused to give because it was an insinuating and extreme request from a family man.

    On April 18, 2000, Yates was arrested for the murder of Jennifer Joseph. His white Corvette had been searched, and police found blood that linked him to Jennifer’s murder. They found DNA evidence matching 12 other victims as well. There was even the body of Melody Murfin which had been buried in his own front yard. His luck had started to run out. You see, Yates had previously been stopped by the Task Force when they were searching for a white Corvette (in which a few victims had been seen), but the field report was misread. They thought they were actually seeking a white Camaro and let him go.

    Where is Robert Lee Yates Today?

    For the appalling killing spree, Yates was charged with 13 counts of first-degree murders and one count of attempted murder at Spokane County Superior Court. He pleaded guilty for his crimes as part of a plea bargain so as to not receive the death penalty. He apologized to the family members of his victims as well. He received a sentence of 408 years behind bars.

    However, the story did not end here. While he was already incarcerated, Yates was also charged with two more crimes— the murders of Melinda L. Mercer (in 1997) and Connie Ellis (in 1998). He was found guilty and was given the death penalty. He was to die by lethal injection on October 3, 2002. But Yates viewed his previous sentence as an all-encompassing one and appealed the case. In 2007, the Washington Supreme Court denied the appeal, and even the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the decision. There was an execution date that had been set for September 19, 2008, but it was stayed due to additional appeal requests.

    The veteran’s legal team, in 2013, filed a habeas corpus petition claiming that Yates was mentally ill, and suffered from a severe paraphilic disorder, which contributed to his killing spree. However, Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist, said, “I don’t think Mr. Yates helps his cause by relying on the fact that he’s a necrophiliac.

    Jay Inslee, the Governor of Washington, stated that he would not sign any death warrants for convicts who had been given the death penalty. The politician asserted that there was no conclusive evidence to show that the penalty actually worked. In July 2015, the Washington Supreme Court refused to change Yates’s sentence. However, in 2018, it was declared that the death penalty was unconstitutional in the state, and Yates, who was once on death row, is now serving life in prison without the possibility of parole at the Washington State Penitentiary.

    Read More: Where is Robert Lee Yates’ Wife Now?

    https://www.thecinemaholic.com/where...lee-yates-now/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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