ROBERTS, ROY MICHAEL
General Information
DOB: December 18, 1952
Race: White
Gender: Male
Crime and Trial
County of conviction: Marion
Number of counts: One
Race of victim: White
Gender of victim: Male
Date of crime: July 3, 1983
Date of sentencing: March 12, 1986
Date of execution: March 10, 1999
Legal status:
Trial Counsel:
Last counsel of record:
Bruce D. Livingston
Capital Habeas Unit
201 N. Main St.
Moscow, ID 83843
208-883-0180
Leonard J. Frankel
231 South Bemiston Suite 1111
St. Louis, Missouri 63105
314-725-8000
Last judicial decision:
--Petition for habeas corpus (filed under U.S. Supreme Court original jurisdiction), and application for stay of execution, denied by In re Roberts, 526 U.S. 1013 (1999).
Reported Opinions:
--Conviction and sentence affirmed on direct appeal by State v. Roberts, 709 S.W.2d 857 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 946 (1986).
--Denial of post-conviction relief affirmed by Roberts v. State, 775 S.W.2d 92 (Mo. banc 1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1039 (1990).
--Denial of habeas corpus affirmed by Roberts v. Bowersox, 137 F.3d 1062 (8th Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1073 (1999).
--Leave to file second or successive habeas petition denied by Roberts v. Bowersox, 170 F.3d 815 (8th Cir. 1999).
--Petition for habeas corpus (filed under U.S. Supreme Court original jurisdiction), and application for stay of execution, denied by In re Roberts, 526 U.S. 1013 (1999).
Significant legal issues:
--Colorable claim of innocence stemming from problematic and unreliable eyewitness testimony (victim was a prison guard killed during a riot; witnesses' first statements to police did not mention Mr. Roberts; trial counsel cross-examined only one eyewitness about this fact), State's untruthful insistence during accomplice's trial that the blood found on a knife belonged to the victim, successful lie detector test taken by Mr. Roberts, who denied guilt
--Prosecutor's argument that the jury's death sentence would only be a "recommendation" for the trial judge
--fact that Mr. Roberts' accomplice, who actually stabbed the victim while Mr. Roberts allegedly restrained him, received a life sentence