PART FIVE

  additional presecutorial and police misconduct

A. District Attorney

As seen previously, the Prosecutor’s Office completely disregarded all legal ethics as well as broke many laws in connection with the investigation into Deputy Hill’s murder, leading to Robert’s unjust conviction and death sentence. In addition to what has already been presented here, many other forms of prosecutorial misconduct occurred.

  The head Harris County District Attorney, Chuck Rosenthal Jr., who is one of the most powerful politicians in Texas, prosecuted Robert’s case himself. He was assisted by two Senior Assistant District Attorneys. Mr. Rosenthal is much more than a regular District Attorney. He controls the Prosecutor’s Office that has sent more people to death row than any other office in the entire United States of America. And more people have been executed from Harris County than any other county in the entire USA.

  Those of you not familiar with Texas politics may still remember Chuck Rosenthal as the Prosecutor that argued in front of the United States Supreme Court to drastically criminalize homosexuality. This is the case that gained extensive international media coverage. Mr. Rosenthal was actually laughed at by one of the Supreme Court Justices for his ultra-conservative, far right wing views. This is especially interesting because the majority of the Supreme Court was appointed by right wing Republicans. Chuck Rosenthal even went as far as to say that repeat offenders accused of being homosexual deserved life sentences. Even though the United States Supreme Court is very conservative, they ruled against Chuck Rosenthal and struck down the so-called “Sodomy Law.”

  The fact that Mr. Rosenthal actually attempted to severely criminalize the act of being gay shows what type of mindset he has. If he thinks homosexuals deserve to spend the rest of their life in prison for being gay, do you think he would have any moral objection to wrongfully sending someone to death row? Of course not! Especially being that someone was Robert G. Will II, a person who refused to work with police on sending others to jail.

  We don’t know for sure who was directly responsible for each instance of assault and intimidation of witnesses and other misconduct, but it was obviously a joint effort between police and the prosecutor’s office. In Harris County, both departments operate jointly in a manner more fitting of the Mafia or a crime syndicate rather than bureaus of justice.

B. Jury Selection

Five women and seven men served as jurors in Robert’s trial. Of the women on the jury, one said she would consider the death penalty for rapists and pedophiles. This woman’s sister lost a close friend who was shot seventeen times and died. Another woman chosen to serve on the jury was married to a man who had a good friend in the Houston Police Department (HPD). Remember, Rock-E’s dad and brother both worked for HPD. Of the men selected to serve on the jury, one knew a police officer who worked with Deputy Hill and was present at the scene of his murder. Two of the male jurors believed that life in prison was not severe enough for anyone who killed another person, thereby negating any mitigating issues that might be brought up during the punishment phase of the trial.

  Another of the male jurors had a brother who was a State Trooper. Also picked during the jury selection process was a man who said that he felt indictment automatically indicated guilt.

  How did Robert end up with such an extremely biased jury? As a requirement to serve as a juror on a capital case, each of the jurors has to be deemed “death qualified.” That is, each juror said that they were willing to sentence Robert to death if they found him guilty. The first question the judge asks every prospective juror is, “Do you have any religious, conscientious, or moral objection to the imposition of the death penalty in the proper case?” The juror must answer no in order to serve on the jury.

  All of the prospective jurors were given “juror questionnaires,” which are basically in-depth psychological surveys. After the questionnaires are filled out, the prosecutors and defense lawyers review them. In Robert’s case, his defense lawyers were appointed by the Judge. Court-appointed lawyers have to do what the Judge and District Attorney’s office want, or they will not be appointed to work on other cases. The prosecutors and Robert’s court-appointed attorneys systematically and purposely selected jurors who they knew would unjustly find Robert guilty and sentence him to death, regardless of the evidence presented.

  When jury selection began, one of Robert’s attorneys, Anthony Osso, continuously made reference to the punishment phase as an inevitable occurrence when questioning prospective jurors. For example, Mr. Osso would say to a prospective juror, “Do you feel you can take all evidence into account when we get to the punishment phase of this trial?” Mr. Osso’s suggestive remarks surely made the jury even more biased than they already were. This is yet another example out of many showing how Robert’s court-appointed lawyers and the District Attorney’s office used various psychological tactics to ensure that the jurors would wrongfully convict Robert, and then unjustly sentences him to death.

Plus, the Harris County Sheriff’s Department (HCSD) put out mass emails, notices, and even a bulletin in the Harris County Deputies Organization online magazine calling for all officers to attend Robert’s trial. Over 100 uniformed officers packed the court room wearing ribbons, picture buttons, and American flags during the trial. So much commotion was caused by the massive amount of police personnel that the Judge had to order the courtroom doors shut and locked. The jury was surely influenced, if not outright scared, by the intimidating presence of the officers.

  Chuck Rosenthal even went as far as using the September 11th tragedy as a psychological tool to sway the jury. He compared Robert with the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by saying, “What we have learned from September 11th is that evil exists in this world. It is embodied in Robert Gene Will!” This was only months after the attacks and this statement definitely had a serious effect on the jury’s perception of Robert. Chuck Rosenthal tapped into the emotions of the jury with his clever propaganda and labeled Robert a terrorist. His court appointed attorneys failed to object to this inflammatory and blatant prosecutorial misconduct.