Jail Informant Wrong in 2 of 3 Cases, D.A. Says

Jailhouse informant Leslie White was incorrect about two of the three cases he cited earlier this week that he said resulted in death sentences for men convicted in part by informants’ testimony, the district attorney’s office said Friday.

White, the central figure in a review of cases involving jailhouse informants’ testimony, identified the three in a telephone interview from jail as Harold Memro, Robert Gibson and a man convicted in a murder trial known as the Rolling 60s case.

In one of the cases, district attorney spokesman Al Albergate identified the defendant in the Rolling 60s case as Horace Burns. He said that an informant did testify against Burns in the penalty phase of Burns’ trial, but that jurors turned aside the prosecutors’ request that Burns be sentenced to death and instead recommended that he be sentenced to life without possibility of parole.

In the second case, Albergate confirmed that Memro was sentenced to death. But he said the prosecutor in that case told him that the only informants who testified did so on behalf of the defense.

In the third case, White said he was misquoted. He said the defendant reported as Robert Gibson was really Robert Wilson. Albergate confirmed that Wilson was sentenced to die after at least two jailhouse informants testified at his trial.

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory Thompson said the propriety of the use of jailhouse informants in the cases White named is being reviewed by his office.