kaorder1999
04-26-2006, 09:10 PM
Man planned to kill himself
Terminally ill man charged in wife's slaying free on bail
08:51 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 26, 2006
By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
The terminally ill man accused of killing his wife of 60 years planned to also kill himself, authorities said Wednesday.
James Roberson, 83, left a note that detailed instructions to call police, the couple's daughter and a local funeral home. It also said that he and his wife, Mary Roberson, also 83, could be found in the back of the couple's tidy brick home in west Oak Cliff.
JIM MAHONEY / DMN
Sally Roberson and her 83-year-old father, James Roberson, waited for a car Wednesday outside Dallas County Jail. He is charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife of 60 years, who was partly paralyzed. Authorities said that after reading the note, a hospice worker discovered that Mr. Roberson had shot and killed his wife as she lay in their bed. The hospice worker then called the couple's daughter, who notified police about 10:20 a.m. Tuesday.
Mrs. Roberson had been dependent on her husband after she suffered a series of strokes that left her right side partially paralyzed. Police say Mr. Roberson, who has brain and lung cancer, killed his wife because he feared she would wind up in a nursing home upon his death.
But when he tried to shoot himself, "for some reason, he couldn't pull the trigger," said Sgt. Gene Reyes, a homicide supervisor. "It's hard to say why. It could have been that the gun malfunctioned."
The frail Mr. Roberson, with two sheriff's jailers on either side helping him walk, shuffled out of the Dallas County Jail shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday after being released on $2,500 bail on a murder charge. He was on suicide watch while in jail, authorities said.
His adult son and daughter were there to help him, but they declined to comment. His daughter whispered to him, telling him it would be OK, as they left the jail.
"That's one of the lowest bonds for murder I've ever seen," said Sgt. Don Peritz, Dallas County Sheriff's Department spokesman. "And I think the magistrate probably took the situation into account."
Chief Magistrate Judge Boyd Patterson said laws governing bail decisions require a judge to take the following factors into account: the seriousness of the crime, danger to the community and the chances the accused person will flee if released.
"In any case of a mercy killing, the safety of the community is not much of an issue," Judge Patterson said, adding that he has seen low bail for murder suspects.
But, he said, "I can't say I've ever seen one lower than $2,500, and I've been down here for 23 and a half years."
Terminally ill man charged in wife's slaying free on bail
08:51 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 26, 2006
By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
The terminally ill man accused of killing his wife of 60 years planned to also kill himself, authorities said Wednesday.
James Roberson, 83, left a note that detailed instructions to call police, the couple's daughter and a local funeral home. It also said that he and his wife, Mary Roberson, also 83, could be found in the back of the couple's tidy brick home in west Oak Cliff.
JIM MAHONEY / DMN
Sally Roberson and her 83-year-old father, James Roberson, waited for a car Wednesday outside Dallas County Jail. He is charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife of 60 years, who was partly paralyzed. Authorities said that after reading the note, a hospice worker discovered that Mr. Roberson had shot and killed his wife as she lay in their bed. The hospice worker then called the couple's daughter, who notified police about 10:20 a.m. Tuesday.
Mrs. Roberson had been dependent on her husband after she suffered a series of strokes that left her right side partially paralyzed. Police say Mr. Roberson, who has brain and lung cancer, killed his wife because he feared she would wind up in a nursing home upon his death.
But when he tried to shoot himself, "for some reason, he couldn't pull the trigger," said Sgt. Gene Reyes, a homicide supervisor. "It's hard to say why. It could have been that the gun malfunctioned."
The frail Mr. Roberson, with two sheriff's jailers on either side helping him walk, shuffled out of the Dallas County Jail shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday after being released on $2,500 bail on a murder charge. He was on suicide watch while in jail, authorities said.
His adult son and daughter were there to help him, but they declined to comment. His daughter whispered to him, telling him it would be OK, as they left the jail.
"That's one of the lowest bonds for murder I've ever seen," said Sgt. Don Peritz, Dallas County Sheriff's Department spokesman. "And I think the magistrate probably took the situation into account."
Chief Magistrate Judge Boyd Patterson said laws governing bail decisions require a judge to take the following factors into account: the seriousness of the crime, danger to the community and the chances the accused person will flee if released.
"In any case of a mercy killing, the safety of the community is not much of an issue," Judge Patterson said, adding that he has seen low bail for murder suspects.
But, he said, "I can't say I've ever seen one lower than $2,500, and I've been down here for 23 and a half years."