Judge to Investigate Misconduct Charges in Death Row Case

The California Supreme Court has appointed a Solano County judge to examine whether a Watts man is on death row because of prosecutorial misconduct.

The state high court has asked Superior Court Judge Franklin R. Taft to examine whether Deputy Atty. Gen. Charles R.B. Kirk induced prison inmate witnesses to provide false testimony that resulted in a death sentence against Larry H. Roberts after two prison killings in 1980.

Kirk, who has tried more death penalty cases than any other prosecutor in the attorney general’s office, has strongly denied any prosecutorial misconduct. Nicknamed “Mad Dog” by colleagues, Kirk has been fined in the past for withholding evidence in a murder case.

Roberts, 47, contends that Kirk bribed and threatened other inmates to get their testimony against him. Kirk has responded that the prosecution’s investigation of Roberts was “painstakingly thorough” and fair.

Roberts was serving a life sentence for the murder of a security guard when an inmate was stabbed at the California Medical Center in Vacaville. Kirk told jurors that Roberts stabbed the inmate, then dropped the knife and fled. The stricken inmate picked up the knife and stabbed a guard to death before dying himself.

Kirk, 60, successfully prosecuted Roberts for both killings. The California Supreme Court later overturned the conviction in the death of the guard, but left the death sentence in place.

Now Roberts’ lawyers have persuaded the state high court to take a closer look at the case, designated In Re Larry H. Roberts, S071835. The defense maintains that Kirk framed Roberts to avenge the killing of the guard.

The Supreme Court has asked Judge Taft to examine several factual issues in the case, including the testimony of inmates called by the prosecution. No hearing date has been set. The examination of witnesses and documents is expected to take several months.

The California Supreme Court eventually will review Taft’s findings and decide whether to overturn Roberts’ death sentence.

Robert Bloom, a lawyer for Roberts, said the inmate is pleased that the state high court is reviewing his case. “He has been waiting for this for 18 years,” Bloom said.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Susan Lee, representing the state in the case, could not be reached for comment.

The inmates’ testimony against Roberts was crucial because no guard saw the stabbing of the inmate.

In a sworn statement, one of the prosecution’s witnesses now says he perjured himself after investigators told him he would be accused of the crime or be sent to another prison, where his name was on a hit list.

One of the other prosecution witnesses previously had been diagnosed as insane by three court-appointed psychiatrists. The prosecution did not disclose that finding to Roberts’ defense lawyer.

Kirk, a prosecutor for more than 30 years, employs dramatics and creative strategies in the courtroom. In one murder case he prosecuted, Kirk dressed a dummy in the victim’s clothing and strangled it with a belt before a stunned jury.

While he choked the life-size dummy, a big clock ticked off the minutes it took the real victim to lose consciousness and die. The defendant in that case eventually was sentenced to life without parole.