Innocent on Death Row
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom
From Now This Media & Facebook
Dr. Phil with Jason Flom
Rolling Stone- Will Texas Execute an Innocent Man?
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February 10 2020
For two decades, Rob Will has been on death row for the murder of a cop. But activists say there is enough additional evidence to save him.
Lots of folks think Will isn’t guilty and that his appeals were big-time botches; he is slated to be featured on an upcoming episode of Dr. Phil (much like fellow Texas death-row inmate Rodney Reed recently was, which helped Reed get an indefinite stay of execution). As for Will himself, he says he spends his days painting, reading, writing, meditating, practicing yoga, and trying not to let the babblings of the nearby “schizophrenic” get to him.
Houston Chronicle- Federal Judge Raises Questions of Innocence
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October 3 2018
The gunshots screeched over the static of the police radio, followed by the last breaths of sheriff’s Deputy Barrett Hill. It was the dark, predawn hours of Dec. 4, 2000, and someone had just committed a capital murder. There were no eyewitnesses and no forensic evidence. But two years later, Rob Will was sentenced to die for the crime in front of a courtroom crowded with uniformed police officers.
Despite the circumstantial case that sent him to death row, Will has always maintained his innocence. His alibi? He says he was handcuffed at the time. Now, nearly two decades into the legal wrangling, a federal judge is again questioning whether Will may be telling the truth. In a rare, strongly worded order last week, U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison advanced the condemned cop killer’s appeal even as he bemoaned his own inability to do more in a case that experts say highlights systemic issues within the death penalty appeals process.
New York Times- Appeal of Death Row Case Is More Than a Matter of Guilt or Innocence
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March 10 2012
No one saw Rob Will shoot and kill Harris County Deputy Sheriff Barrett Hill in the still-black morning hours in a Houston bayou on Dec. 4, 2000. No physical evidence linked him to the murder
Mr. Will, now on death row, said that he is innocent, but that he has been represented by ineffective lawyers. He has a new lawyer who faces the daunting challenge of representing Mr. Will at this late stage in his appeals.
Witnesses have testified that another man confessed to Deputy Hill’s murder. But in a January ruling, Judge Keith Ellison of United States District Court lamented that even though he was concerned Mr. Will could be innocent, he had to deny his motion for a new trial.
disturbing uncertainties,” he wrote. “Federal law does not recognize actual innocence as a mechanism to overturn an otherwise valid conviction.”
Houston Chronicle- Death Row Inmate's Effort to Spare Life Gains Momentum
April 2 2012
Like so many before him, Texas death row inmate Robert Gene Will II says he's not guilty. Given the state of Texas' record in seeing its death sentences carried out, the odds on getting the right people to believe him are not great.
But there have been exceptions. Will insists that if he can get a fair hearing, he will be another one. He admits he was no saint in his younger days, that he ran with a bad crowd, and yes, that he and a buddy were breaking into a car on the morning of Dec. 4, 2000, when a spotlight suddenly caught them in its glare. Within moments his life changed forever, and Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Barrett Hill lost his.
Will claims he did not shoot Hill. He has claimed as much since the day of his arrest. He could not have done it, he says, because his hands literally were tied behind his back.
Huffington Post - Letter From Death Row: It’s Time to Stop Executing the Insane
April 18 2013
A condemned Texas inmate reflects on the blind justice of putting to death a schizophrenic who has plucked out his own eyes.
Have you ever heard the screams of the insane? It is something you will never forget; it’s a soul disturbing sound and sometimes it can last for hours and hours, day after day after day.
Is this why so many of the insane in prison rant and scream so maniacally and so very often? Amid the twisted and tumultuous fog of their schizophrenic mind, is a part of their damaged psyche reaching out for help, for comfort, for balance, for peace?
Solitary Watch News- Voices From Solitary: The Heaviness of Blood
October 31 2014
Must the Italians be so very wicked? They have done this all throughout history: created soul-stirring strings music. Music that pulls at ones heartstrings, enhances the emotions with a slight caress, grasps ones deepest feelings and thrusts them into the heavens with the force of Zeus hurling thunderbolts, or smash-smash-smashes emotions into the abysmal depths of hell with the promise of bringing them back up...up-up-up to the highest heights of deep visceral reflection.
VOA- Inmates Tell Their Story in New Book
21 October 2009
The U.S. state with the busiest death chamber and one of the largest prison populations is Texas, where public opinion polls show the death penalty is supported by more than 70 percent of the population. A new book by students at a Texas university compiles writings and art work done by condemned prisoners. The book, Upon This Chessboard of Nights and Days, Voices from Texas Death Row, was published by Texas Review Press, on the campus of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville - a city that is the location of one of the state's largest prisons and where executions are carried out. The book provides a rare look into the minds of men who await their moment in the death chamber.
Broadway World- 'Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom' Spotlights Rob Will's 20-Year Death Row Saga
January 6, 2021
Rob Will was handcuffed when a police officer was shot. There are no eyewitnesses or forensic evidence pointing to his guilt. He has always maintained his innocence. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he was wrongfully convicted and has spent the past two decades on death row in Texas. His story is the subject of the January 6th, 2021 episode of the hit podcast Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom.
Crimes of a Decade, A Texas True Crime Podcast
March 25, 2020
Rob's case was featured in the very second episode of new true crime podcast, Crimes of a Decade: A Texas True Crime Podcast.
This 35 minute podcast covers much of Rob's case from the initial crime scene to the trial and post-conviction issues Rob has faced.
You can listen to it below or wherever you get your podcasts.
Oxygen- 5 People Who Were Convicted But Probably Didn't Commit The Crime
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July 7, 2017
We’ve seen people walk away from crimes they did commit, like Robert Durst. We’ve seen controversies like O.J. Simpson’s murder acquittal and Michael Jackson being exonerated for child molestation. But what about the cases where people were convicted based on circumstantial evidence only? The following convicted murderers are controversial because they might not actually have committed the crimes they’ve been imprisoned for.
Criminal Legal News- Fourth and Fifth Circuits Reopen Decades-Old Cases for Habeas Relief Due to Brady Violations
January 1, 2025
The first case was an application to file a “second or successive” (“SOS”) habeas corpus petition in federal court by Robert Gene Will in the Fifth Circuit. On August 5, 2020, a divided panel of that court granted Will permission to file another petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in the district court based on a slew of exculpatory evidence that the prosecution withheld from the defense.
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Socialist Worker- The Death Row Resisters
June 25, 2008
Rob Will, an innocent man on Texas death row framed for the murder of a police officer, has inspired activists throughout the world for standing up to the system and fighting back. Along with Kenneth Foster Jr. and Gabriel Gonzalez, Rob co-founded the Death Row Inner-communalist Vanguard Engagement (DRIVE) Movement.
DRIVE members' nonviolent resistance within the heart of the death penalty beast, in collaboration with the anti-death penalty movement on the outside, won an amazing victory last August in stopping the execution of Kenneth Foster.
My Corner of the Universe with FreeRobWill.org
October 15, 2020
My Corner of the Universe sat down and had a chat with Tish and Jess about working for Free Rob Will.
A very informal chat with the two of them over international zoom discusses the details of Rob's case, the new decision made by the 5th Circuit, and the hidden evidence that spurred the approval.
You can watch the interview on YouTube below.