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60401(m). The one constant in Juror 253's testimony was uncertainty. Robinson claims Judge Anderson abused his discretion by denying the challenge for cause of Juror 149, who allegedly leaned toward a sentence of death. The State attempts to distinguish Flournoy, arguing the prosecutor's comments there were unsupported and concerned the victim's possible last thoughts rather than the events she may have witnessed. 592, 612 S.E.2d 751 (2005), for the proposition that a driveway lies within the curtilage because it is an area where people wash cars, unload groceries, etc. Juror misconduct is not a ground for mistrial unless it is shown to have substantially prejudiced a party's rights. Fenton, 228 Kan. at 664. Some rules and principles grant the district court discretion, while others raise matters of law. Robinson suggests Juror 298's preference to hear evidence of remorse violated his Fifth Amendment right to silence. Had the prosecutor completed his statement, Robinson might have had a more viable argument. However, the State had later provided a will call list that narrowed down those most likely to testify to around 200. In 1964, at the age of 21, John Robinson married Nancy Jo Lynch. John Edward Robinson - Interesting stories about famous people We presume that legislative enactments are constitutional and resolve all doubts in favor of a statute's validity. 260 Kan. at 469. The admission of evidence lies within the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Holmes, 278 Kan. 603, 623, 102 P.3d 406 (2004) (quoting State v. Jenkins, 272 Kan. 1366, 1378, 39 P.3d 47 [2002] ). at 2768 (Breyer, J., dissenting). Robinson argues the Anthony factors should apply to his challenge. Nor could he provide a precise date of death but said the decomposition was consistent with the State's theory that they had been murdered 6 years earlier. While in Kansas, Lewicka worked for Specialty Publications, handling advertising graphics for Robinson's magazine. Judge Anderson overruled Robinson's objections, allowing Mattingly to testify in accordance with the proffer. The district judge provided a limiting instruction so the jury would not consider the lessee's complaint for the truth of the matter asserted. See State v. Warbritton, 215 Kan. 534, Syl. And to the extent that the majority contends that the prior killings had not fulfilled their role as its purported second element of capital murder prior to Trouten's murder, the opinion contradicts itself. d. Nonstatutory Aggravating Circumstances. Slip op. See State v. Daniel, 291 Kan. 490, 498, 242 P.3d 1186 (2010) (Section 15 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights provides the same protection from unlawful government searches and seizures as the Fourth Amendment to the federal Constitution.), cert. Because the statute does not vest defendant with any substantive right, it logically follows that suppression of evidence is not an individual remedy available to defendant. Lewicka said she would be living at 9280 Metcalf in Overland Park and could be reached by e-mail. 2. Rather, the Trouten murder added nothing to the State's theory of prosecution, except to use its occurrence date to invoke the death penalty and thereby increase the punishment for the previously completed crimes. It is of vital importance to the defendant and to the community that any decision to impose the death sentence be, and appear to be, based on reason rather than caprice or emotion. Gardner v. Florida, 430 U.S. 349, 357358 [1977] (opinion of STEVENS, J. Worse stuff generally is aggravated. granted, judgment vacated, and case remanded sub nom. Because she's dead, because she's dead.. I realize, and I understand that all I've heard is negative information, I understand that; so going into a trial, I take that into consideration. In short, [t]he upshot is that lengthy delays both aggravate the cruelty of the death penalty and undermine its jurisprudential rationale. 135 S.Ct. During the cross-examination of Nancy Robinson, prosecutor Morrison asked whether she reported to authorities that Robinson came home with an infant baby at the time of Stasi's disappearance in January 1985. Robinson asked Neufeld to leave her sex toys with him, explaining it would give her extra incentive to return. Short of such a line of inquiry, Judge Anderson did not substantially limit Robinson's case-specific inquiry during voir dire. On its face, K.S.A. 290 Kan. at 817. State v. Friday, 297 Kan. 1023, 1043, 306 P.3d 265 (2013). 2516, 165 L.Ed.2d 429 (2006), concluded that these events did not play a major role in the deliberations to this point and denied the motion. In the July 25, 2002 ruling denying defendant's third motion to continue trial, Judge Anderson said, When Mr. Thomas got in this case, he got in it because the defendant discharged, essentially through hiring Mr. Thomas, the capital defense team and retained an attorney of his own choice. (Emphasis added.) Despite this evidence, Robinson argues the e-mails should have been excluded because of possible indicators of alteration. However, the prosecutor's question did not assert this as fact. Judge Anderson did not clearly rule on the objection. Every alimony check was deposited into Robinson's HydroGro, Inc., business account at Community Bank of Raymore, an account opened on February 1, 1994, with James A. Turner and Beverly J. Bonner as the authorized signatories. VENIREPERSON 14: A slight edge, yes, sir. (Emphasis added.). Learn more about FindLaws newsletters, including our terms of use and privacy policy. did then and there unlawfully, intentionally and with premeditation kill Elizabeth G. Brittain, and that the intentional and premeditated killing of Elizabeth G. Brittain, and Douglas G. Brittain, was part of the same act or transaction or two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or course of conduct. 286 Kan. at 62. Robinson's argument is founded in part on statutory construction and application of caselaw under Kansas' capital sentencing scheme. Prosecutor Welch proffered outside the presence of the jury that Mattingly would testify that she received an odor complaint from a lessee of a unit adjacent to unit F10, that she told Robinson about it, that she saw defendant cleaning up some kind of bloody fluid outside unit F10 soon thereafter, and that defendant told her a dead raccoon was the source. John Waller (5) Robinson (great grandfather of Enders A. Robinson), the third son of Michael (4) Robinson and his wife Nancy Waller Robinson, was born in Spotsylvania County on April 11, 1796. First, the aggravating circumstance at issue required a direct relationship between the murder and the risk of death to another. The State objected, believing the defense was trying to poison the panel. 2516, 165 L.Ed.2d 429 (2006), to argue the tools were not logically connected to the crimes. And after you told him this, did you see Mr. Robinson at that unit? Vickie Neufeld was from Texas and had lost her job as a geriatric therapist. While holding a favorable impression of his son, Juror 184 confirmed he would not project that same impression on law enforcement officers in general. At trial, the State's theory was that Robinson kidnapped Trouten by deception, with the specific intent of killing her, and that he, in fact, accomplished this purpose. 1697, 12 L.Ed.2d 894 (1964) (applying Due Process Clause to state court's unforeseen retroactive application of law). Defense counsel merely responded, Okay., Juror 147 did not assert any hardship, so Judge Anderson passed him to the second phase of jury selection and assigned him to the seventh panel for small group voir dire on the topics of pretrial publicity, bias, and the death penalty. Judge Anderson's ruling is supported by the record, and we hold that no error exists. 286, sec 1. Judge Anderson addressed this issue specifically in denying the third motion for continuance, finding that Kansas law compelled the prosecution to endorse all potential witnesses regardless of the extent of their knowledge and that the defense team's resources, including four attorneys, an investigator, and six legal interns, were sufficient to overcome the discovery complications and complete preparations in the time allotted for trial. Judge Anderson confirmed that the defense was making a tactical decision in anticipation of a conviction and subsequent penalty phase proceeding. The prosecutor did not suggest to jurors that the goal of impartiality undercut or should subvert the presumption of innocence. In my view, Kansas is fortunate to have so many competent attorneys who are willing to engage in public service as prosecutors. 223216(1) provides that a defendant aggrieved by an unlawful search and seizure may move to suppress as evidence anything so obtained. However, it does not compel the trial court to grant that remedy for any search conducted in violation of state statute in particular. Circumstantial evidence may include appearance, contents, substance, internal patterns, or other distinctive characteristics of the item, taken together with all the circumstances. Fed.R.Evid. Robinson was devastated by the loss of his brother and shattered by the false accusations lodged by his mother. Young believed the body had been stored for a long period of time because most external features were blurred and the internal organs were hard to distinguish. In January 1994, Robinson leased a second unit at StorMor, unit E2, under Bonner's name and maintained possession through his arrest in June 2000. Slip op. 222401a did not warrant application of exclusionary rule); 2 LaFave, Israel, King & Kerr, Criminal Procedure 3.1(e), pp. 5. The prosecutor made a proffer of the testimony that supported his good-faith basis for the question at the time of the objection. None of the jurors read from or consulted the Bible that Juror 147 had brought into the jury room. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978). The First Circuit concluded that [w]e cannot assume, as the district court apparently did, that individual voir dire of the jurors and a curative instruction would not have eradicated the risk of prejudice in this case. 519 F.3d at 88; see Cross v. Though granted the opportunity, defense counsel did not ask any further questionseither general or specific to Juror 173's commentsexploring panelists' impartiality. ", Robinson, crying again, testified how she also lost her job at the mobile home community shortly after her husband was arrested because of all the publicity about the case. 4th 224, 49 Cal.Rptr.2d 615 (1996), and Goines v. State, 708 So.2d 656 (Fla.Dist.App.1998), in support of his challenge. Even when Robinson served time in state prison in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the children visited him and their relationship remained strong. Granted, this court has construed that provision to be applicable only to the adoption of the entire new criminal code rather than applying to any subsequent amendments to crimes within the code. When Robinson boarded Trouten's two dogs at a veterinary clinic, he said the dogs belonged to his employee. Likewise, to the extent Robinson's challenge requires the court to interpret the statutory requirements of the Kansas Offender Registration Act, the issue presents a question of law subject to de novo review. Contact us. The majority is apparently implying that the defendant was guilty of the capital murder of Trouten and the capital murder of Lewicka and that the murders of the four other women simply served as proof of a common scheme or course of conduct. 223401. 2788 (2012). 3. That was the whole reason John got her I know I will. Robinson is now 72 years old, making it highly probable that Kansas will face the prospect of executing an octogenarian. In denying Robinson's motion to strike, Judge Anderson emphasized that he was considering the totality of the response and, in doing so, it was clear Juror 33 was qualified and lacked substantial impairment. 20301a also fails to give meaning to other provisions within Article 25 of the Kansas Code of Criminal Procedure. Robinson claims Judge Anderson applied a more lenient standard to the State's challenges for cause, in violation of his due process rights. Judge Anderson's curative instruction and follow-up inquiry confirmed this panel nevertheless remained impartial. 20301a. 222616(1). To facilitate the cover-up, Robinson disposed of Trouten's two dogs by reporting them to an Olathe animal control officer; moved Trouten's belongings out of her Lenexa hotel room; and made arrangements with a resident of Mexico, while she was visiting her son in Johnson County, to mail fraudulent letters to Trouten's family members postmarked from Mexico. At that point, defense counsel interrupted and cut off the response. A few months later, Larry Heath received a typewritten letter purportedly from Bonner, which was unusual because Bonner had always written letters by hand. Juror 302 was confident she could set aside media-reported facts and decide the case on the evidence. Nerad's affidavit did not establish her qualifications to diagnose such conditions. Challenges to Penalty Phase Instructions. The dissent related that the current administration of the death penalty involves three fundamental constitutional defects: (1) serious unreliability, (2) arbitrariness in application, and (3) unconscionably long delays that undermine the death penalty's penological purpose. 135 S.Ct. Around the time Stasi began dating Carl, Robinson was looking for a private adoption opportunity for his younger brother, Donald Robinson, and Donald's wife, Helen, who lived in the Chicago area. 213439(a)(6), which defines the offense to include the intentional and premeditated killing of more than one person as a part of the same act or transaction or in two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or course of conduct. The counts were identical in charging the murder of a principal victim as one of multiple acts or transactions constituting parts of a common scheme or course of conduct in which other human beings were killed in a premeditated and intentional manner, to-wit: Beverly J. Bonner, Sheila Faith, Debbie Faith and Lisa Stasi. Count II charged Suzette Trouten as the principal victim and Count III charged Izabela Lewicka as the principal victim. In response to defense counsel's voir dire, Juror 14 said that without any further information to weigh, he would tend to weigh a police officer's testimony more favorably than that of a lay witness. Before their scheduled departure, he directed Cox to write letters to her mother and daughter as though she had already arrived at each of these destinations, explaining there would not be time to write family during the trips. Some might be acting under the influence of somebody else.. Kansas statute provides a vehicle for defendants to move for the suppression of evidence seized in violation of law. Instead, curiously, the majority points to a statute of limitations statutory provision, K.S .A. The defense called Cunningham to testify that Robinson would make a positive, nonviolent adjustment to prison. Robinson challenges a number of Judge Anderson's evidentiary rulings on appeal. 1089 (2012). See State v. Scott, 271 Kan. 103, 117, 21 P.3d 516 (highly encouraging courts to follow the language found in the PIK instructions unless facts of case dictate otherwise), cert. To belabor the point, the statute required the killing of more than one person, not the killing of one person after having killed others. The district judge provided a curative instruction to the panel members and made inquiry to confirm their impartiality. See State v. Adams, 292 Kan. 60, 6869, 253 P.3d 5 (2011) (comments not gross or flagrant when the prosecutor only made a passing reference to the victim and did not dwell on or repeat the point); State v. Miller, 284 Kan. 682, 719, 163 P.3d 267 (2007) (accumulation of multiple comments may render them gross and flagrant). Robinson picked them up at the airport in the late afternoon and drove them to the offices of Equi II in Overland Park, where they signed legal paperwork, including a Petition for Adoption. The first, second, and third Skilling factors weighed against a finding of presumed prejudice at the time Judge Anderson ruled on each motion. 222503 as part of the codification of the Kansas Criminal Code. John Edward Robinson is widely considered to be the first serial killer to operate on the internet. 222401a(5), consistent with the context and history giving rise to the 1994 amendment creating this subsection, LPD and OPPD officers had territorial jurisdiction to execute the search warrants in Olathe. How then can we reconcile the death penalty with the demands of a Constitution that first and foremost insists upon a rule of law? 135 S.Ct. He noted the injuries were similar to Trouten's. Robinson shared a particularly close relationship with Christys daughter, who spent time with Robinson every day. In an act of extreme disgust, Robinson handed over Tiffany to his brother, who, unaware of John's horrific crime, adopted her, with a new name: Heather Tiffany Robinson. The prosecutor's question was also relevant. In Kleypas, 272 Kan. at 1078, this court advised that, going forward, [a]ny instruction dealing with the consideration of mitigating circumstances should state (1) they need to be proved only to the satisfaction of the individual juror in the juror's sentencing decision and not beyond a reasonable doubt and (2) mitigating circumstances do not need to be found by all members of the jury in order to be considered in an individual juror's sentencing decision.. Contrary to Robinson's assertion, Morrison's use of this hypothetical question did not improperly shift the burden of proof or undermine the presumption of innocence. The second factor weighed slightly in favor of changing venue as the surveys demonstrated that case recognition was not as extensive in Harvey and Ellis Counties. Judge Anderson overruled the objection, noting that it presupposes that [the prosecutor's] question, which references the different homicides deal[s] only with the elements of the crime but not the mitigating factors and the aggravating factors The record provides no basis to construe the comments differently from the district judge's construction, and we perceive no misconduct in the form of the question.