Unit 1012 Cover Photo

Unit 1012 Cover Photo

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

IN LOVING MEMORY OF SARAH PATTERSON (DIED: 30 APRIL 1997) (THE KILLER, BOBBY WAYNE WOODS EXECUTED IN TEXAS ON 3 DECEMBER 2009)



On this date, 30 April 1997, 11-year-old Sarah Patterson was murdered by Bobby Wayne Woods. He was executed by lethal injection in Texas on 3 December 2009. Let us not forget Sarah and thank God that another child killer was executed.


Sarah Patterson
Summary: In the early morning hours Woods went to the home of his ex-girlfriend, Schwana Patterson, 35, who had had kicked him out a few days earlier. Her two children, 11-year-old Sarah and 9-year-old Cody, were sleeping inside. Woods crawled through an open window into the children's bedroom. He grabbed Sarah's foot and began beating her chest, then sexually molested her. Woods then forced both children to leave through the window in their nightclothes, put them in his car, and drove to a cemetery. There, he beat and stomped Cody on the head and strangled him. With Cody unconscious, Woods then drove away with Sarah. Cody survived. Based on Cody's statement, police found Woods and asked him where Sarah was, hoping to find her alive. Woods answered, "You will not find her alive. I cut her throat." He then led them to her body.

QUOTE 1: “I’m not a person that likes harm done to anybody, but I believe in justice being done,” Larry Patterson said after watching his daughter’s killer die. “She had no choice. She didn’t get a second chance.”

QUOTE 2: “I put this behind me a lot of years ago,” said Cody Patterson, now 21, who stood outside the prison and chose not to see Woods die. “It has been a long time coming. I’m glad to know it’s done. I knew it was going to be done sooner or later. “I seen his picture... That’s all I wanted to see,” he said, adding that he recovered from his injuries and that nightmares about the attack have stopped, but that he still had “the scars on the back of my head.”

AUTHOR: Family members of Sarah Patterson, who was murdered by Bobby Wayne Woods on 30 April 1997. He was executed by lethal injection in Texas on 3 December 2009.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

LEIGH ROBINSON MURDERED AGAIN ON 28 APRIL 2008 IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.



           Leigh Robinson was spared the death sentence in 1968 for a murder of a woman he committed that year. Unfortunately, he was released and he murdered another woman on 28 April 2008 in Melbourne, Australia. The murder occurred forty years later after his first one. Please go to this blog post to learn more about the murder. 
 
Please read this article from his stepson who wants his own stepfather to pay with his life and also a testimony from the niece of Robinson’s first victim.


Why Leigh Robinson should die

MY stepfather took the lives of two women, 40 years apart. There is no doubt in my mind that he should pay the ultimate penalty for his crimes 

NOT only would I support the death penalty in the case of my stepfather, double murderer and convicted rapist Leigh Robinson, I would even go so far as to ask the judicial system to make public the details of all defendants' past crimes.

At his recent trial, why was his history quashed? The members of the jury that convicted him this week of the murder of Tracey Greenbury last year were not told that he had killed before.

Even though it took them only an hour to reach a verdict, not one of them was aware that he had earlier been sentenced to death for the 1968 murder of his former girlfriend, Valerie Dunn, who was only 17 at the time.

But after taking her life, he was spared the gallows and he served only 15 years in prison.

Results: Death penalty

This poll is closed.

Should Victoria bring back the death penalty?

  • Yes 69.15% (65 votes)
  • No 30.85% (29 votes)
Total votes: 94

Why am I affected by this? Because the man who carried out both murders, 40 years apart, is the man who raised my three sisters, my brother and me. He raised us and he destroyed us, just as he destroyed the families of his victims.

The idea of rehabilitating murderers is bull. This man must hang.

He must never be given the chance of getting out into society again, simply because he will kill if he is ever granted his freedom.

He's done it before and he'll do it again. There is no delicate way of saying this. If he is freed, he will kill someone else.

Tracey Greenbury, unfortunately, did not know about his violent background. It cost her her life. It is my carefully considered opinion that when the truth about his background began to emerge, she tried to distance herself from him. But it was already too late.

She died instantly when he shot her in the back of the head, at point-blank range. He pleaded not guilty to her murder, but I watch enough of CSI to know that if ballistic evidence, weapon residue and DNA evidence at the crime scene all adds up, justice always catches up with a killer.

But how do we define justice?

Convicted killers, like convicted sex offenders, must bear the brunt of their crimes. My stepfather must face the consequences of his actions.

He must hang. He must never be given the chance of re-emerging into society and doing the same thing again.

In the case of repeat offenders - as indeed he was - the legal system must find a way to disclose a killer's prior conviction and history to a jury, the next time that person faces trial.

Mentally, what makes a person like my stepfather a danger to society? I do not know where to begin. I cannot define this in simple terms. But when a human being physically abuses those who are their closest relatives, that person has already shown no respect for the norms by which society is defined.

As far as the issue of guilt goes, it is a clear-cut choice. If there is irrefutable evidence and if there is an eyewitness to a slaying, then there can be no quibbling over a guilty verdict and the killer should get death. On the other hand, if there is the slightest element of doubt, then the due process of the law must dictate what happens.

I must also point out that the issue of mental care of people who have offended in any way and are assessed as being likely to reoffend is a debate with no simple solution. People need all the help they can get, up to a point.

In the case of my stepfather and his horrific crimes, there had to be some mental or psychological trigger factors. What were they? I cannot begin to guess. How deep were they? I do not know. How far back into his life do we need to go to see when they first began to surface? That is impossible to define.

If a person is psychologically unwell, is there a case for them to be locked up? Society must debate the issue, because it has wide ramifications for the safety of those of us who trust the law and the law enforcement agencies to assure our safety.

If a member of your family were assessed by doctors and judged as being in need of regular medication to control a particular pattern of behaviour, this in turn raises an interesting scenario.

L ET'S say it was your stepfather, not mine, who was judged as being a danger to society. Let's say his wellbeing depended on your ability to monitor his activities and to make sure he took regular medication. Let's say, in an extreme scenario, that it was your responsibility to keep him indoors.

Would you be able to deliver on all those demands? If you had to ensure that the person in your care, whatever the level of their crime or their innate tendency to commit a crime, would you actually be able to physically shove a tablet down their throats? You could fetch the tablet, you could fetch a glass of cordial or water to wash it down, but could you actually ensure that they did not spit the tablet out without your knowledge?

If the legal system cannot make it safe for us to live alongside people who break the law and commit offences of any nature, then we should have a say in defining how these people are treated.

When my stepfather was given early release from jail, he continued to re-offend in many ways, not all of which came to light.

If he had raped, murdered, pillaged and plundered, he was smart enough to put the sort of fear into people to an extent that you would not believe. Yet he could stand up in front of a jury and without any hesitation he could plead not guilty to the vicious murder of Tracey Greenbury. This is precisely why juries must be told the full history of people accused of crimes of this level.

My stepfather was shrewd enough to look round a courtroom full of people and deny any wrongdoing.
I was at work when the first reports began to emerge of Tracey's death. I knew exactly who had done it, even before my stepfather's name first surfaced. I just knew who it was. No question about it. There was no doubt at all in my mind.

I CALLED Mum but she knew that he was involved although she wouldn't tell me. I asked her where he was, but she claimed she had no idea.

I think Mum is a classic variation of Stockholm syndrome, where people caught up in confronting situations begin to find empathy with those who are committing a crime. She always defended my stepfather, even when it was a question of what he was doing to us kids. She always believed in his innocence. Nothing anyone can do will ever change her opinion.

On the other hand, nothing will make me back down from my opinion on the death penalty. That - the belief that I must never back down - is the only thing I took from my mother. I threw out everything else I ever learnt from her. But she once commended me for being brave enough not to back down, and that is precisely what makes me so determined to recommend the death penalty for my stepfather.

I don't understand what made Leigh Robinson the sort of person he is.

I cannot begin to comprehend what made him the sort of person he turned out to be. It is impossible to define how that part of the human brain works in the case of a double murderer.

He must be hanged, shot or stoned to death for the crimes he has committed.

Cold-blooded killers

  • Kate Lauretta
  • From: Herald Sun
  • October 01, 2009 12:00AM
IN 1968 a 17-year-old girl was stabbed to death in the kitchen of her own home. From that moment, life for those involved would never be the same. 

I am the niece of Valerie Dunn, the teenager who was murdered that day by Leigh Robinson.

This week, Robinson was convicted of the murder of Tracey Greenbury last year.

It is often said that with rehabilitation and counselling, we are able to turn cold-blooded killers into normal human beings. But Tuesday's verdict has proved us wrong.

If the original death sentence had not been commuted, Tracey Greenbury would still be alive. Her children would still have their mother and a family filled with grief would not have been forced to confront the heartache of loss.

When a life is taken away so cruelly, it does not only affect the victim, but also those left behind. After the murder of Valerie Dunn, my grandmother died a short time after, from what we believe was a broken heart.

Results: Death penalty

This poll is closed.

Should Victoria bring back the death penalty?

  • Yes 69.15% (65 votes)
  • No 30.85% (29 votes)
Total votes: 94

Related Coverage

My grandfather, being from the days of hard men, never expressed his emotions but at the age of 88 he still misses his daughter daily and carries the burden of guilt from not being able to protect his little girl.

Three loving sisters were left to pick up the pieces and to this day each of them carries the depth of heartache that few of us - thankfully - will ever experience.

The effects of the murder have been long-lasting, with nervous breakdowns, divorces, and family feuds marring our lives, as a result of Leigh Robinson's brutal actions.

I ask the question: Why?

Why did a government release a man 15 years after a cold-blooded murder, allow a man with no sense of remorse or compassion to walk the streets, to then commit rape, assault, burglary and most recently murder again? Where is the justice that Australia so proudly announces to the world?

How many people need to be affected before our justice system recognises that it made a mistake? 

How many more people need to die before the law is changed to protect our citizens?

There are many criminals sitting in jail, waiting to be released, so that they can re-offend. If Frankston serial killer Paul Denyer were to be released, how many more people would he kill?

If we release killers into society, how many more parents, siblings and children will be left without a loved one?

Leigh Robinson's violent act took away the right for me, my brother, my sister and our cousins to ever meet our beautiful, caring and kind Aunty Val. Our family photos are always missing a piece of the puzzle and special events are never complete.

Our justice system failed my family and the families of those affected by Leigh Robinson. I hope that as a community we can change the system to prevent Leigh Robinson and others like him from walking our streets again.

If we are able to change the law, then perhaps Aunty Val didn't die in vain.


Saturday, April 27, 2013

IN LOVING MEMORY OF MASTER PATROLMAN RICHARD O. RIGGS [END OF WATCH: 7 JANUARY 1986] (COP KILLER, RONALD KEITH BOYD EXECUTED IN TEXAS ON 27 APRIL 2000)



On this date, 27 April 2000, Cop Killer, Ronald Keith Boyd was executed by lethal injection for the 7 January 1986 murder of Master Patrolman Richard O. Riggs in Texas. Let us honor this fallen police and thank God that justice was served. 


Master Patrolman Richard O. Riggs
Summary: Following a January 7, 1986 robbery of Tom’s Market on 1000 N.E. 36th Street in Oklahoma City, the suspects stopped at a gas station, and Boyd got out to use a pay phone. Oklahoma City Officer Richard Riggs, 32, stopped to investigate and ordered Boyd to take his hands out of his pockets. With his hands still concealed in the pockets of his coat, Boyd shot Officer Riggs in the abdomen. Boyd then placed the gun against the chest of Officer Riggs and fired a second shot, killing him. A passing motorist testified that he saw the guy on the phone fire at the police officer. Along with his rookie partner, Riggs managed to return fire. Boyd claimed a hitchhiker took the gun from his knapsack and shot Riggs. He said there was no gunpowder residue on his hands, but prosecutors said Boyd was arrested a day after Riggs was killed and had ample time to wash his hands. Accomplice Lenora Dunn pled guilty and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. 

QUOTE: "I promised Richard as I stood over his coffin that I would live to see this day," Riggs' mother, Betty Riggs, said hours before the execution. "I had to keep my promise to Richard and now I can go to the cemetery and I'll tell him."

AUTHOR: Betty Riggs is the mother of Officer Richard Oldham Riggs. He was murdered by Ronald Keith Boyd on 7 January 1986. Ronald Keith Boyd was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on 27 April 2000.