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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Manslaughter |
Sentence: |
40 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
3 |
Year Crime: |
1999 |
Year Convicted: |
2013 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Louisiana |
County or Region of Crime: |
Lafayette |
City of Crime: |
Lafayette |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Willie James Robertson was wrongly convicted on May 30, 2013 of manslaughter for the death of a 86-year-old Irene Schoofs in 1999 in Lafayette, Louisiana. Schoofs had been found lying on her kitchen floor with three plastic grocery bags near her hand, Her home had been ransacked, and her wedding ring, a VCR, silverware, and groceries from the plastic bags were identified as missing. The medical examiner determined her body showed no signs of trauma, and that she died from "sudden cardiac arrest caused by severely narrowed coronary arteries” about 4:30 p.m. on October 6, 1999 -- 18 hours before her body was discovered. She had left work at 4 pm on the 6th, and witnesses established she had stopped at the store on the way home, which accounted for the grocery bags. Robertson was indicted in 2012 for second-degree murder after cold-case investigators linked his fingerprints to those found in Schoofs home. Robertson was prosecuted based on the State's theory that Robertson was burglarizing Schoofs' home when she arrived, and she was literally scared to death. Robertson denied burglarizing the house, and his lawyer argued that there were 79 other fingerprints found in the house besides Robertson's prints, that no DNA testing of crime scene evidence was done to identify a burglar, that there was no evidence connecting him or anyone else with Schoofs' death, and that she could have already been dead when her home was ransacked. After Robertson's conviction by a jury of the lesser charge of manslaughter, State District Judge Glennon Everett sentenced the 45-year-old Robertson on September 26, 2013 to the maximum of 40 years in prison without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. Robertson appealed, arguing the prosecution introduced insufficient evidence to support his conviction of either manslaughter or second-degree murder. On April 2, 2014 Robertson's conviction was unanimously reversed by the Louisiana Court of Appeals that ordered his acquittal based on the prosecution's failure to introduce any evidence of a connection between Schoofs' death and Robertson. The Court's ruling stated: "Accordingly, because the evidence is constitutionally insufficient to support Defendant's conviction for second degree murder or manslaughter, we reverse the conviction for manslaughter, vacate the sentence, and enter a judgment of acquittal." (State v. Robertson, 135 So. 3d 1275 (La COA, 3rd Cir.2014)) The Louisiana Supreme Court accepted the State's submission for review of appeals court's ruling. On June 30, 2015 the Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals ruling reversing Robertson's conviction based on insufficient evidence a burglary was "the precipitating event leading to the sudden cardiac arrest that killed her..." (State v. Robertson, No. 2014-K -0945 (LA Sup. Ct. 2015))" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On June 30, 2015 the Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals ruling reversing Robertson's conviction based on insufficient evidence he caused the deceased woman's death during the burglary of her house." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
44 |
Age When Released: |
47 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"State of Louisiana v. Willie James Robertson, No. 2014-K -0945 (LA Supreme Court, June 30, 2015) (Per Curiam) (Affirming Court of Appeals ruling reversing Robertson's conviction based on insufficient evidence.)" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.lasc.org/opinions/2015/14K0945.opn.pdf |
Information Source 2: |
"State Supreme Court upholds lower court's acquittal of man convicted of scaring woman to death, KATC-TV 3 (Denham Springs, LA), June 30, 2015" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.katc.com/story/29447151/state-supreme-court-upholds-lower-courts-acquittal-of-man-convicted-of-scaring-woman-to-death |
Information Source 3: |
"State v. Robertson, 135 So. 3d 1275 (La COA, 3rd Cir.2014) (Reversing conviction based on insufficient evidence of guilt.)" |
Information Location 3: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12793746745805015571&q=robertson+No.+KA+13%E2%80%931234.&hl=en&as_sdt=4,19" |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org