ROBERTS, MICHAEL
General Information
DOB: September 28, 1974
Race: White
Gender: Male
Crime and Trial
County of conviction: St. Louis
Number of counts: One
Race of victim: White
Gender of victim: Female
Date of crime: February 17, 1994
Date of sentencing: May 30, 1995
Date of execution: October 3, 2001
Legal status:
Trial Counsel:
Christopher Slusher
Last counsel of record:
Richard H. Sindel
Sindel & Sindel
8008 Carondelet, Suite 301
Clayton, MO 63105
314-721-6040
John W. Simon
P.O. Box 16005
Clayton, MO 63105
314-645-1776
Last judicial decision:
--Supreme Court's denial of a certificate of appealability (and for a stay of execution) following the Eighth Circuit's denial of a certificate of appealability and the district court's denial of habeas relief. Roberts v. Luebbers, 534 U.S. 946 (2001).
Reported Opinions:
--Conviction, sentence, and denial of post-conviction relief affirmed by State v. Roberts, 948 S.W.2d 577 (Mo. banc 1997), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1056 (1998).
--Habeas corpus denied by Roberts v. Bowersox, 61 F. Supp. 2d 896 (E.D. Mo. 1996).
Significant legal issues:
--prosecutor's sensationalistic closing arguments during the guilt and penalty phases and improper statements of the law during voir dire
--trial court's admission of various statements made by Mr. Roberts during a pretrial mental examination in which numerous bad acts were described (including incestuous acts with siblings), without a limiting instruction requiring the jury to limit such statements to the issue of diminished capacity and not to take them for their truth
--trial counsel's failure to object to the prosecutor's improper arguments, including the argument that Mr. Roberts' bad acts (referred to above) demonstrated his ability to deliberate for purposes of capital murder
--trial counsel's withdrawal of Mr. Roberts' plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect without first consulting the defendant