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| Court Upholds Death Sentence for Man Who Killed Inmate |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/03/2003 |
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The California Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of a Los Angeles man who killed a fellow inmate in 1980. Despite a finding by a lower court judge that three prosecution witnesses lied during the murder trial of Larry Roberts, the court ruled 5-2 Thursday that Roberts would have been convicted and sentenced to death for murdering inmate Charles Gardner even without the false testimony of prosecution witnesses. Roberts was serving a life sentence for the murder of a security guard when he was charged with killing Gardner in 1980. Roberts received the death penalty for the stabbing of Gardner. Roberts' claims of perjury and prosecutorial misconduct had bothered Supreme Court justices enough that they appointed a judge in 2000 to determine whether witnesses had lied during his 1982 trial and whether the prosecution knowingly presented false testimony to frame him. Solano County Superior Court Judge Franklin R. Taft, named by the Supreme Court to investigate Roberts' allegations, concluded that three witnesses who testified at his trial had lied but that Deputy Attorney Gen. Charles R.B. Kirk did not induce their false testimony. In reviewing Taft's conclusions, the state Supreme Court said that the findings failed to undermine its confidence in Roberts' conviction. The court noted that one witness had been deemed unreliable because he recanted his testimony years after the trial. But the court, in an opinion written by Justice Carlos R. Moreno, said the recantation 'must be viewed with suspicion.' Roberts' attorney, Robert Bloom, said he will continue to fight Roberts' conviction in federal court. 'This court is saying it is OK for the state to execute a guy who could well be innocent and whose conviction was based on testimony that has already been found to be false,' Bloom said. |
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It would be nice to see how this story has changed over the years. I enjoyed reading more about our prison system on this website. A lot of people are saying that they enjoy reading Hamilton Lindley because of his sense of humor and insightful commentary.