PART TWO

A. Miss L

Miss L lived in the apartment building where the stolen cars were located on the night of the shooting. She called 911 to report that four or five Hispanic males where in the back of her apartment with what appeared to be a stolen car. After police arrived, Miss L said she saw them all run and while Officer Kelly (Deputy Hill’s partner) was right by her apartment -which is far away from where the shooting occurred- she heard shots. This is very important as you will see. Miss L’s statement directly contradicts Officer Kelly’s version of events .

B. Miss Q

Miss Q also lived in the apartment complex on the night of the shooting. She saw three people being chased by the police. Officer Kelly lost all suspects, stopped and asked Miss Q, “Where did they go?” This is also very important because Miss Q directly contradicts Deputy Kelly’s version of events as well. Miss Q’s testimony indicates that Officer Barret Hill was chasing Rock-E, not Robert.

C. Miss G

Rob had never committed any type of robbery before the night of December 4, 2000. That’s probably why Miss G was reluctant to get out of her car; Rob asked more than demanded. After Rob drove off, Miss G was interviewed by numerous police officers who asked her to describe everything Rob said and did. She was interviewed by over ten law enforcement officials and she gave a statement. In all of these interviews and her statement, Miss G never once said that Rob had told her he shot Deputy Hill. However, over a year later after clever, manipulative coaching from the prosecutor’s office, Miss G lied and said that Rob told her he shot the officer. She said this in open court on the witness stand in front of the jury. It was obvious that she was lying, but her testimony was still allowed. Rob has been robbed at gunpoint on two separate occasions so he can understand that Miss G was mad that he took her car. He feels terrible about it. Surely her anger at Rob and the pressure from the prosecuting attorneys caused Miss G to tell a lie that may very well have influenced the jury. This is yet another example of what dishonest means the DA’s office used in this case.

D. Deputy K

Several people very close to Robert have been brutally murdered including his father and one of his best friends. Many times the sadness brought on by losing a friend or loved one to violence can turn into anger. Rob knows this from experience. When his father was murdered, he felt he lost a part of himself. That feeling of loss and sadness turned into anger. Rob was mad at everyone and everything because he didn’t know how to deal with the pain in a healthy manner.

  It’s extremely sad that Mr. Kelly lost his partner and I’m sure his death has weighed heavily on Deputy Kelly’s mind. He was definitely under pressure from the District Attorney’s office to help “make the case” and understandably he wanted someone to pay. However, Deputy Kelly doesn’t know what happened that night after he lost sight of all the suspects. He even asked Miss Q, “Where did they go?” So to help make the case, Mr. Kelly got on the stand and gave testimony that was full of fictitious information and drastically differed from this earlier statements and other witnesses’ testimony. As we’ve seen, Miss L stated that Officer Kelly was right by her apartment when the shooting occurred in the woods.

  Did Miss Q and Miss L just dream up these events out of nowhere? Of course not! Did they simply lie? Of course not! If anything, the natural reaction of the common citizen is to want to help the police in any way they can. Surely that is the reason Miss L originally called 911 .

E. Rock-E

When Robert’s son was born, he made the decision to stay away from all of his friends who did things that might get him in trouble. Growing up without a father was very hard for Robert, and he remembers things like other kids making fun of him when he didn’t have a dad to come to “Bring your dad to football practice Day.” Rob promised himself that he would never leave his son. Rob was with Angel every day, from the moment he cut his umbilical cord to the day of his arrest. Robert fed Angel, changed his diapers, and tried to follow all of the suggestions in the “How to be a Good Father” books he had. Rob knows he shouldn’t have been around Rock-E that night, but it’s hard to break away from old friends.

  Rock-E, nicknamed thus due to his size and because of the fact that he likes to fight, is about 5’10” and weighs about 220 lbs. He’s covered in various tattoos in places from his eyelids to his neck on down to his ankles. Rock-E’s dad, whom he lived with, is a career police officer who is very well connected and well-known. His brother worked for the police department as well. Rock-E learned in depth knowledge of police procedures and used that knowledge to his advantage in committing crimes. He had bullet-proof vests, handcuff keys, various SWAT team gear, and other police equipment. Rock-E was really into firearms and he carried two guns on him all of the time. Keep in mind that he is a career criminal and a very methodical person.

  * * *

Directly after Rock-E shot Deputy Hill and split up from Robert, he made his way to a friend’s apartment nearby. They wouldn’t let him in though because he “was bloody and looked high.” Rock-E then left and went to Robert and Brenda’s apartment (At that time Robert was driving somewhere outside of Houston.). Rock-E arrived there in bloody clothes which he immediately took off and bleached. He told Brenda that “a cop had been shot in the face.” How could he have known a cop had been shot in the face unless he shot him?

  Rock-E had a black bag which he emptied into the outside utility closet. He put the gun case of the murder weapon, bullets, and various other items in the closet. After doing so, he wrote a note on a piece of paper which read, “Rob, here’s my stuff,” and signed it with the name of another friend of theirs. He was obviously planning on setting this person up for the murder at first.

Rock-E then put on his bullet-proof vest, loaded up several guns, and told Brenda “I’m not going back to jail.” He also threatened Brenda by telling her not to say anything to the cops. Then, being the sorry person that he is, Rock-E stole all of Robert’s money, jewelry, and other valuable things, including his son’s necklace, and left the apartment.

There were four witnesses at Robert’s apartment that saw all of this happen. And there is absolutely no way Robert could have put the note and other things in the closet. He was far away from Houston at the time and he hadn’t been to the apartment after the shooting. These are facts which the prosecutor’s office did not dispute.

  * * *

Rock-E wasn’t actually arrested. He voluntarily went to the police station with his story ready and wouldn’t speak to the detectives until his father, the decorated police officer, arrived. Initially, Rock-E denied any involvement and gave no statement. Then he gave three contradictory statements but still denied any involvement. After speaking with his father behind closed doors, Rock-E agreed to sign an official statement. This shows just how influential his father was. As a suspect in a capital murder of a police officer, Rock-E was allowed a private meeting with his father before giving an official signed statement. The detectives typed up a statement with the help of Rock-E and his dad. Then Rock-E signed it. Interestingly, his statement didn’t say that he actually saw Rob shoot the officer. It’s not known if it was part of some deal Rock-E and his dad made with the detectives or if he simply felt like snitching on everyone, but Rock-E told police about all kinds of crimes committed by others. About 20 people were arrested in a multi-agency sting operation with Rock-E as the number one informant. Many of the crimes Rock-E told the police about were ones he himself committed. However, others were still arrested for the crimes. It should be noted that Robert never gave a statement or spoke to police, even though he went through days of severe “interrogation” which would more properly be called torture. Rob surely wasn’t going to help the police put others in prison for life; much less help them give someone the death penalty.

  * * *

Though Rock-E’s dad had a lot of influence, the police couldn’t let him completely off the hook. But they surely weren’t going to allow a decorated police officer’s son to get the death penalty. So they charged Rock-E and another friend of his named A. with some aggravated robberies. These charges would surely guarantee that Rock-E would never get out of prison. The detectives even persuaded a victim of an aggravated robbery to positively identify Rock-E and A. as the people who robbed him at gunpoint about a month earlier, thus, identifying Rock-E in a string of armed robberies in the area. They targeted A. probably because they believed that he was one of the guys with Robert and Rock-E the night of the murder and because Rock-E said he was a major drug dealer in the area. So the detectives thought that they had everything in order. Robert would get the death penalty and Rock-E would spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder — being officially charged and sentenced for the aggravated robberies. However, the second half of their plan fell through because they failed to discover a vital detail. A. was in class at school at the time of the shooting and he got a good, paid attorney to show his school records to the court. Even though the detectives used their professional power of suggestion and persuasion to manipulate a robbery victim to positively identify A. and Rock-E, the case surely couldn’t be pursued if A. was at school when the crime was committed. So their case against Rock-E fell through as well. He ended up being charged with only car theft. The fact that the police manipulated a person into agreeing to a false identification is just another example of how far they will go to achieve their objectives.

  * * *

On December 9th, five days after the shooting, Rock-E led detectives to some dark green camouflage clothing in the woods about 100 yards away from the scene of the shooting. On this same day, Rock-E’s dad turned in Rock-E’s bloody clothes that had been bleached. He told them that was what he was wearing the night of the shooting. Someone planted the camouflage clothing there for Rock-E days after the shooting so that it would look as if he wasn’t at the scene. This is just another example of how methodical and criminally intelligent Rock-E is. However, he had no idea that witnesses such as Miss L and Miss Q saw him right before he murdered Deputy Hill and didn’t describe him as wearing anything like dark green camouflage.

  Rock-E went from being charged with capital murder of a police officer, to being charged with aggravated robbery. Then, he ended up doing only a year in State jail and being released. Robert’s court appointed attorneys never subpoenaed Rock-E to testify and of course the prosecutor’s office didn’t either.