R
OBERT PARKER, a lifetime resident of Alcorn County,
Mississippi, is 78 years old, with a third grade education,
a below average IQ, confused and unable to understand what
happened to his family that caused this tragedy. He has
been sitting in a Mississippi prison for more than fourteen
years wrongfully convicted of the murder of his wife,
Charlene and the assault of their two children, Shan and
Billy Jo ages 19 and 18 at that time.
Robert grew up in rural Alcorn County during the thirties and only went through the third grade in school before having to stop and go to work on the family farm helping his father provide for the family. He put himself through trade school while working at a pants factory in Corinth, Ms. In trade school he learned how to repair and paint wrecked automobiles. His customers considered him an expert in field of automobile body repair. Robert taught himself how to read by going to church and reading the bible, his wife Charlene taught him how to write. Robert and his wife, Charlene working together operated two automobile body repair shops rebuilding wrecked automobiles at the same time raising two children. When their two youngest children were born Charlene stayed home with them until they both started to school she then went to work at a local factory until her death. Robert and Charlene both worked very hard saved their money and lived a very frugal life. Some in the community resented them for what they had been able to assemble during their 42 years of marriage.
Pastor
Dr. Kara Blackard
Sheriff
James R. (Jimmy) Taylor
Even now, when asked what their opinion is as to whether Robert is guilty or not, they will say "a jury convicted him," that is all we know.
Robert was in such a state of mind after his wife was killed that he was sent to the State Hospital for mental evaluation. He remained there for three months under treatment before being declared competent to stand trial and returned to the Alcorn County jail. Robert was held there another 19 months without medication before being taken to trial. Because his attorneys were not communicating with him so he could tell them what happened that night he drew pictures describing what happened every second from the time the confirmation started until it ended. When Atty. Comer was asked why he did not use the drawings to develop a defense for Robert he stated, "Robert had a lot of drawings, but none of them were any good."
Robert was first charged with manslaughter but that was later changed to murder. Chief Deputy Sanford Whitehurst told us that Son and Daughter stayed in the District Attorney's face every day until he agreed to prosecute Robert for Murder. The complete statements of Son and Girlfriend have survived over time along with a partial statement from Daughter. Each statement of the events occurring on June 14, 1992 contradicts the other. Son and Girlfriend's statements were hand written approximately twelve days after the incident and were not taken under oath. Daughter's partial statement is included in the State Hospital report and there is no way to tell when it was given or whom it was given to. There are no statements in the files that were taken by or in the presence police investigators or under oath.
Knowing that psychiatrist Dr. June Powell had evaluated Robert and determined that he was not competent to assist in his own defense and she had testified to that prior to the beginning of the trial. The Judge disregarded her testimony and proceeded. Robert was then put on the stand to testifY in his own behalf. After we started trying to help Robert Atty. Keenum told Freeda's husband [Bo] not to worry, these people can not get Robert a new trial because they had no connections in Mississippi--- [they do not even live in the state.]
The four self-proclaimed eyewitnesses [Son and Daughter and Girlfriend and Boyfriend] all testified that Robert shot at them with a .25 caliber pistol. Son said he thought Robert was shooting blanks because he could not see where the bullets were hitting. [We believe that this was an attempt to cover up why there were no 25 Cal bullet holes in the wall behind where they were standing.] Daughter said that Robert shot at Boyfriend with the .25 caliber pistol but missed. A review of the police report of the crime scene, as well as physical examination of the cast wall of the kitchen where the witnesses claim to have been standing shows there are no .25 caliber bullet holes to be found in that wall of the Parker's house. The only 25 Cal bullets identified struck Charlene, Son and Daughter. All of this took place in an area no larger than 12 ft by 9 ft. [None of this was ever brought out at the trial.]
The witnesses in this case were all from well-known families in the community. They were able to tell their story to everyone in this small community that would listen for 26 months prior to Robert's trial. The jury was then selected from that same small community. Robert had asked for a change of venue but it was not granted and his Attorneys withdrew the request after his trial had started. Robert believes that the community had been so influenced by the witnesses against him until he could not have gotten a fair trial.
Robert hired his own private investigating firm, Lowrey Investigations of Booneville, Ms to investigate the charges against him and assemble evidence that would prove he did not kill his wife and shoot his two children. However Judge Frank Russell would not allow Mr. Lowrey to testify as to his opinion of what had occurred that night. Robert's attorneys were not effective in their direct examination to get the evidence Mr. Lowrey had assembled heard by the jury. Mr. Lowrey was a well-trained Mississippi and licensed investigator and had testified as an expert witness in other cases before Judge Russell. Mr. Lowrey cannot understand why Judge Russell would not allow him to testifY in this trial.
Charlene and Robert Parker were not living together at the time of Charlene's death however they maintained a close relationship. Their separation was caused by their children, mainly the Son. They had agreed that Charlene would work four more months before retiring and by then Robert would have their retirement home he was building completed. After that they intended to divide their property among the children and then the two of them would live in the new home and spend time traveling in their motor home. Robert and Charlene enjoyed dinner with their friends, the Odoms, on the evening before Charlene's death. The Odoms recall they were happy and Charlene was planning on retiring in four months and they would live in the new house. They cannot believe that Robert would ever hurt Charlene.
This is Robert's testimony, which he was not mentally capable of articulating at the time of his trial because he had been kept in jail for 26 months most of that time without medical aid. Robert had asked Sheriff Jimmy Taylor if he would talk to Son, Daughter, and their friends about the way they were living before they left for college. Robert and Charlene both felt that they had lost control of them and were concerned about the trouble they could get themselves into. Robert and Charlene felt that the sheriff was their friend and he was the only one that could help them. The sheriff had told Robert to get the children together and he would come out and talk to them. He and Charlene agreed that she would keep the children at home on the night of June 14, 1992. Robert and Charlene did call the Sheriff's house that night but his wife told them he was not in. [No one checked with the Sheriff or Sheriff's wife as to weather she did receive such a call.]
Robert was preparing to leave the house; he and Charlene were standing at the back door that opened to the carport discussing the sale of the Pickwick property because they could no longer control their children's use of the property. Their lake home had been turned into a party house that Son now claimed as his own. Son had changed the locks to keep Robert and Charlene from being able to use it. At the same time he gave keys to his friends for their use. They had agreed to meet the next day after work and go to Corinth, Ms and place a classified ad in the local paper advertising the property for sale. Charlene had already handwritten the ad. [The ad was not presented as evidence at Robert's trial to support his testimony even though it was available.] Overhearing what was being discussed; Son and Daughter's Boy friend both went outside to their vehicles and got what Robert believed then and now knows was their pistols. Robert states that Son had the 25-caliber pistol he had stolen from him, the same gun that Robert had repeatedly ask Sheriff Jimmy Taylor to take away from him and the same gun that Son had been using to threaten Robert's life with. Daughter's Boy friend also had a 38-caliber pistol in his possession, which he later gave to a friend shortly after the incident of June 14, 1992. [It was never brought out at Robert's trial that Daughter's Boy Friend had a gun]
Robert states that Son shoved Charlene to one side and shouted, "You are not going to sell my cabin!" Charlene slapped him and told him to go sit down, he went back to the table and set down and then pulled the 25 Cal. pistol out of his pocket. With that, Robert states that he pulled his own pistol out of his pocket and lunged at Son, grabbing him and pining his arms down trying to keep him from shooting Robert or Charlene. Robert states that he and his wife were struggling to take the gun away from Son when Son fired several wild shots. Robert says the first shot hit Daughter in the arm and she fell in the hallway. Robert said that he twisted Son's arm back trying to make him drop the gun; Son fired another shot and hit himself in the shoulder. [A slight flesh wound.] Robert states that Son fired another shot which struck Charlene in the buttocks; and, then another shot which struck Charlene in the chest killing her. Robert states that, during the struggle he remembers that Daughter's Boyfriend ran out of the front door, after firing a .38 caliber shot in his direction. The shot missed him and struck the door facing of the back door. Robert remembers seeing Son's Girlfriend run out the back door when the confrontation first started yet in her hand written statement to the police given twelve days later she claims to have stayed in the house and that Robert had shot at her as she stood in the hallway. [However the police report shows no bullet holes in the hallway and after making a physical examination of the hallway there was no bullet hole to be found.] [Also in Son's Girlfriend's sworn testimony given at the preliminary trial she could not remember if Robert had a silver or black pistol.]
Robert states that the reason he had his gun with him was because he and his two grandsons had been fishing and he had not taken it out of his pocket when he took them home
Robert had reported his .25 caliber pistol stolen to Sheriff Jimmy Taylor and asked Taylor on several occasions to take the gun away from Son because he was threatening his life with it. Freeda Nelms, Robert's daughter, had called the Sheriff's office and given them the serial number of the pistol. Robert remembers Sheriff Taylor telling Deputy David Bishop to take the gun away from Shan but that never happened. [David Bishop was not called as a witness.] The Sheriff's office testified they had no records showing that the gun was ever reported stolen. [They would not testifY that the 25 cal pistol had never been reported stolen just that they had no records of it being reported.] [Freeda Nelms was not called to testify about her knowledge of the pistol being reported stolen.]
The four self-proclaimed eyewitnesses to Charlotte Parker's death married soon after the incident (Son and girlfriend and Daughter and Boyfriend). Robert believes this was done in order to prevent them from testifYing against each other. That way, even if one of them wanted to tell the truth, they could not. The Boyfriend has stated that Son is very smart.
A few months before June 14, 1992 Robert had gone by to pick up Charlene to go to dinner. When he arrived at the house Son was there and Charlene was ironing Son a shirt and crying. Son had beat his mother and made her face bleed. Son came out of his room grabbed the shirt, ran out the door and drove off. Charlene told him that Son had threatened her that she had better not go out to eat with Robert anymore because he was going to kill him and would kill her to if she were with him. Charlene never discussed with Freeda that Son had beat her however she did tell her that she was afraid that Son was going to kill Robert because he was talking about it. [Freeda gave a statement to that affect but she was not called to testify.]
A few weeks before June 14, 1992 Son had attacked Robert at Freeda's grocery store. He and Son fought and a neighbor made them stop and told Son to go home and that he should be ashamed of himself for attacking his father like that. Son told his mother that Robert attacked him, and he reported the incident to Sheriff Bill Gant who then investigated the altercation and found that it was Son that attacked Robert. At the preliminary hearing, Son testified that Robert attacked him and that he did not report the incident to the sheriff. [Sheriff Gant was not called as a witness concerning the incident.] [Freeda was not called to testify about what she knew concerning the Sheriff's investigation] .
Ms. Hattie Nash states that her daughter had dated Son and that he was physically and mentally abusive to her. Ms. Nash stated that once, while her daughter was working at J. C. Penney's in Corinth, Mississippi Son became angry with her, struck at her and missed, but knocked a hole in the break room wall. Son was barred from the store and required to repair the wall in the break room. From that date forward Ms. Nash or someone from the family would take her daughter to work and pick her up after work to protect her from Son. Ms Nash stated that she felt that Son probably shot his mother but she did not want to get involved. Ms. Virginia Barker, who worked at the J. C. Penny's store in Corinth at that time, has given a statement to the effect of this incident. [None of this was presented at Robert's trial.]
The police never secured the crime scene, and people in the community were free to come and go as they saw fit. A few days after Charlene Parker was killed, her daughter, Freeda was searching for her mother's purse, money and jewelry. Freeda believes her mother had about $25,000 in her purse and the trunk of her car at the time of her death. Three days later, Freeda got a deputy sheriff to go and search the home of Girlfriend's parents. He found Ms. Parker's purse in the house and some of her jewelry but none of the money. She believes that Son and Girlfriend went back to the residence after Son's wound was treated at the hospital and took the money, purse, jewelry and any thing else they wanted.
Son and Daughter did not attend their mother's funeral. According to the neighbors, Son immediately bought himself a new pickup truck and started flashing a lot of cash. The house Robert was building and had been living was burglarized while the rest of the family was at the funeral. Robert believes that Son and Daughters Boyfriend did this looking for anything of value. Freeda called the sheriff, he sent a deputy out to take a look, but he did not make a report.
Mark Parker, Robert's nephew, remembers that when he talked to Keenum about Robert's defense all Keenum did was use the lord's name in vain and state there was just no way to defend him. He also states that after Robert's sentencing he remembers overhearing Keenum ask Freeda, "Are you going to cook me a big old steak tonight?"
There is confusion at the court clerk's office as to who the court reporter was in Robert's trial. The clerk's office says Regina Russell, wife of Judge Russell, was the court reporter. When we started searching for a transcript, we found that Ms. Russell had gone to the Alcorn County, Mississippi Board of Supervisors a few days earlier and requested them to allow her to destroy the transcript tapes for that period of Robert's trial and permission was granted. Ms. Russell was contacted and stated that there was no way to get a transcript of Robert's trial. Attorney Greg Keenum stated there was no transcript simply because no appeal was filed. The clerk's file also shows a Mary Margaret Ferguson as the court reporter. When asked if she still had the tapes she responded "The State only requires us to keep them for five years and I threw them away a long time ago." However we were able to obtain a complete copy of the preliminary hearing transcript showing false testimony and we do not believe the witnesses against Robert would have testified any different at his trial.
When Assistant District Attorney Jim Pounds was asked to look at the evidence and see if he could help Robert, his response was no; he was going to fight to see that Robert stayed in prison, because that is where he belongs until he dies. Robert believes the reason his sentences were made to run consecutively was to try to ensure that he would die in prison.
Neither of the attorneys ever talked to Robert after he was sentenced. They did not file an appeal for him even though Comer did ask for two extensions of time for that purpose. Robert was indigent by that time because his estate had already been divided and disbursed. Robert was not told that the state would provide a public defender for him at no cost. Robert does remember that Freeda told him that Comer and Keenum told her an appeal would cost $300,000 and there was a 95% chance he would loose. However they never told her that she could get the state to designate a public defender to appeal Robert's conviction.
The presiding circuit Judge for Robert's trial was Judge Frank Russell. At the time of Robert's trial the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance had filed a formal complaint against Judge Frank Russell accusing him of judicial misconduct. [Releasing prisoners that had already been convicted and incarcerated.] Three weeks after Robert's trial, The Supreme Court of Mississippi found Judge Russell guilty; the hearing panel recommended a public reprimand and a monetary fine of $I,500. Judge Russell resigned from office and went into private practice. There is an envelope being held in the Alcorn County Clerk's Office marked "evidence," dated prior to the beginning of Robert's trial and sealed by Judge Russell to be opened only on appellate appeal. Robert can't understand why the judge would seal evidence before his trial. But believes that Judge Russell intended to release him for a fee after he was convicted as he had done in those other cases?
With the help of friends a new attorney was found to file an out of time appeal for Robert. The Supreme Court of Mississippi ruled against Robert in his appeal. The reason given was that Robert's attorney, Tommy Comer was given two extensions of time to file an appeal and did not follow through and that the three years allotted for appeals had passed therefore Roberts appeal to the Supreme Court was time barred. It made no difference to them that Robert had never talked to Comer and had no idea what was going on. The analysis of the Supreme Courts decision is that if they ruled in favor of giving Robert a chance to appeal his conviction would open the door for over 1000 other appeals to follow. Therefore it was in the best interest of the Court to deny his appeal.
After receiving the Supreme Court's decision we wrote a letter for Mr. Parker to send to the Governor's legal staff asking for the forms he needed to apply for clemency. They turned his request for the forms over to the Mississippi Parole Board and instead of sending them Ms Skipper decided without reviewing any evidence that he was not eligible for consideration. Wc responded for Mr. Parker asking that they review this synopsis of the evidence and then reconsider their decision. To this date after several phone calls the only response we have been able to get is that they do not have staff for this purpose. We have been unable to get past the person that answers the phone. Her latest response was "You must not understand our Governor's decision on releasing prisoners."
Recently a high ranking Sheriff's Department official from that period has reviewed all the evidence gathered and stated that it is all correct and that Robert was convicted and sent to prison because he was unable to defend himself and his attorney's were incompetent or they entered into a conspiracy with others to take him out of the community for the rest of his life. He further states that the only interest the prosecutors had, been to put someone in prison guilty or not. Robert was easy he had no education and could not defend himself and the community had been convinced that he was guilty.
Those that are supporting Robert in this effort asks for permission to share all the evidence that has been assembled with an official of Mississippi in order to overturn this conviction and let Robert be free for his few remaining years. There must be someone that has just little time to correct this wrong and free this innocent man. Robert's email address is: robert@reparker.com.