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Robert Otis COULSON
Wednesday, June 24, 2002
Robert
Otis Coulson Scheduled to be Executed.
AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers
the following information on Robert Otis Coulson, who is scheduled to be
executed after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 25, 2002.
On June 22, 1994, Robert Otis Coulson was sentenced
to death for the capital murders of his sister and brother-in-law, Robin
and Rick Wentworth, which occurred in Houston, Texas, on Nov. 13, 1992.
Also killed in the same transaction were his parents, Otis and Mary
Coulson, and his sister Sarah Coulson. Coulson was the adopted son of
Otis and Mary, and Robin Wentworth's natural brother.
A summary of the
evidence presented at trial follows.
FACTS OF THE CRIME
The victims were discovered by the Houston Fire
Department while extinguishing a house fire on Nov. 13, 1992.
Coulson
had individually subdued each victim, bound their hands and feet, and
secured a plastic bag over their heads. All five victims died of
asphyxia due to suffocation. After the victims were dead, Coulson poured
gasoline on the bodies and set the house on fire.
The morning of Saturday, Nov. 14, 1992, investigators
were alerted by a family friend that the remaining family member, Robert
Coulson and his roommate, Jared Althaus, were spending the weekend at
the Althaus' family farm in Caldwell.
Jason Althaus, Jared's older
brother, drove to the farm to inform Coulson of the deaths and told him
to go immediately to the police station. Coulson and Althaus arrived at
the police station around 5:30 p.m. and were interviewed separately.
Coulson gave the police a written statement. Coulson said he had last
been at his parents' home on Thursday, November 12, however, no one was
home. Coulson said he and Althaus had stopped for gas on the way to the
farm around 4:15 p.m. that Friday.
Jared Althaus also gave the police a statement in
which he said he and Coulson left for the farm around 4:00 p.m. on
Friday. Althaus gave the police a receipt for the purchase of gasoline.
Coulson consented to a search of the car they were driving, however,
nothing was found.
On Sunday, November 15, Coulson contacted his
parents' attorney seeking information about the size of the estate.
During dinner with the attorney and Coulson's uncle, Coulson became
concerned when he learned that he might not be the sole beneficiary.
Coulson's sister Sarah had recently had a baby, which was placed for
adoption and might be entitled to half the estate. Coulson wanted to
know what the child's legal rights were and who had adopted the baby.
Around 10:00 p.m. that Monday, the police confronted
a distraught Jared Althaus at a motel in San Marcos. Althaus agreed to
meet with the officers back in Houston and gave a second statement to
the police in which he recanted his alibi for Coulson.
Althaus stated
that he dropped Coulson off at his parents' house and picked him up a
few hours later; however, he did not know that Coulson had murdered his
family at that time.
When Althaus learned of the deaths, Coulson
allegedly threatened to do the same to Althaus' family and girlfriend if
he did not go along with Coulson's alibi.
A police officer, who was conducting surveillance of
Coulson and his activities at the funeral, November 17, watched Coulson
during the service and noticed that Coulson showed no emotion at the
church or grave side service. After the funeral, the officer watched
Coulson leave the church to walk a friend to her car.
On his way back,
Coulson was observed by the officer to smile, snap his fingers and clap
his hands, and do what the officer described as a dance step before
returning to his previous solemn expression.
That same day, Jared Althaus, who was still in
custody, finally confessed his involvement in the premeditated plan to
murder Coulson's family. Althaus recanted his two previous statements,
confessed that he had helped Coulson plan the killings for several
months, and that he had helped Coulson carry out his family's murder but
that he was not at the Coulson house when they were killed.
Althaus
claimed that Coulson enlisted him in a plan to kill Coulson's parents
approximately three or four months prior to their deaths.
Approximately three months before the murders,
Coulson and Althaus began purchasing supplies, including duct tape, zip
cords, and a stun gun for immobilizing the victims.
Coulson selected the
stun gun and bought it, but Althaus paid for it. Coulson purchased trash
compactor bags because they were the strongest. Coulson placed the
supplies in Althaus' gray backpack, including Althaus' .9 millimeter
gun, and stored it in his parents' garage attic the day before the
murders. Althaus bought a gasoline container the night before the
murders because Coulson did not want to be seen doing it.
The Wednesday before the murders, Coulson and Althaus
chose a dark spot in the neighborhood as the drop-off point. Coulson and
Althaus went to San Marcos so that Coulson could talk to his uncle Peter
to make sure he would not be coming to town that weekend. Peter verified
that Coulson had visited.
While Coulson was at his parents' house on
Thursday to drop off the backpack, he went through his parents' files
and checked their wills to see who the heirs were. Thursday evening,
Coulson and Althaus went to the house to drop off the gas and to see how
dark the house was at that time of the evening.
Althaus left work at 3:00 p.m. the day of the murders
and met Coulson at the apartment complex where Coulson, who was using
his girlfriend's black Toyota Celica, was waiting to load the car.
Coulson asserted he was dressed in casual attire because there were
cameras at the apartment complex and he wanted to be seen wearing casual
clothing. However, on the way to the crime scene, Coulson changed into
dark jeans, a blue sweatshirt, a baseball hat, sunglasses and white
tennis shoes.
Althaus dropped Coulson off around 4:15 p.m. and then
drove to a gas station to get a receipt to use as an alibi. Althaus
drove around for a while before returning to the house around 6:00 p.m.
Althaus circled three times until Coulson came running out of the bushes
carrying the gas can, backpack and a crowbar.
Coulson told Althaus it had not gone as planned.
Althaus drove while Coulson disposed of the evidence out the window of
the car. Coulson was familiar with the roads from his former job as a
delivery man, so he told Althaus which way to turn.
Whenever there was a
ditch or culvert, Coulson would throw out an item. Many items were
recovered on what would have been the passenger side of the car. As they
drove, Coulson vividly described the details of the murder; Coulson was
not crying or emotional and he showed no remorse.
According to Althaus' testimony, Coulson called the
house that Friday and told his parents that he had news about a business
deal and that he needed to talk to them.
When he arrived at the house,
Coulson told his mother he wanted to talk to her about something, then
he took her into the spare bedroom on the left side of the house.
Coulson tried to immobilize her with the stun gun but it did not work.
Coulson told Althaus that his mother struggled the most and that he had
to smother her with a pillow before binding her hands and feet. Coulson
told Althaus that his father was a "wimp" and was easily taken care of.
Coulson went into Sarah's room next and tried to use the stun gun but it
still didn't work. While he bound her, he told her he needed some money
and that nothing was going to happen.
Coulson said that Sarah did not
put up a fight and that he told her he was sorry and he loved her and
then hugged her. Sarah allegedly thanked him for waiting until she had
her baby, then he put the bag on her head and zip-corded it.
Coulson had called Robin earlier in the week and told
her to show up around 5:00 p.m. that he had something to tell them all;
however, she and Rick arrived early while Coulson was still in the room
with Sarah.
By the time Coulson got out of the room, Rick had jimmied
the locked screen door and was inside the house. Coulson was unable to
separate Rick from Robin, who was six months pregnant.
Coulson
threatened them with the gun, telling them that Althaus was in another
room with their parents and would kill them if they did anything.
Coulson hit both of them in the head with a crowbar, striking Rick more
than once.
He then bound and gagged them and put bags on their heads.
Coulson had planned to remove the trash bags and zip cords to make it
look as if they died of smoke inhalation, however, while he was pouring
gasoline over the bodies, the fumes ignited in the room containing his
parents bodies, from what he presumed was the hot water heater. Coulson
lit the rest of the bodies with matches.
After Althaus' confession, the police accompanied
Althaus to collect evidence that he and Coulson had discarded. The
police arranged a meeting between Althaus and Coulson at a local hotel.
During the meeting, Coulson was tape-recorded making several
incriminating statements, including repeatedly pressuring Althaus to
maintain their previously established alibi; telling him the police had
nothing on them; and that the police had to prove beyond a shadow of a
doubt that it was Coulson's car that was seen in the neighborhood, and
that Coulson and Althaus had done it. Coulson also made statements that
later contradicted his testimony at trial.
Coulson was arrested as he
tried to leave the hotel. He was carrying a notebook at the time; the
tape-recorded conversation indicated Coulson attempted write in this
notebook rather than talk to Althaus out loud.
While en route to the police station, Coulson made
several incriminating statements to the police. The police told Coulson
that Althaus had confessed. They showed Coulson pictures of the evidence
they collected and read him his Miranda rights.
Coulson then said he did
not hate his family as most people thought, but that he was having
financial difficulties and this was the only way out. He stated that
society considers you a failure if you do not succeed financially.
Coulson said he had overcharged credit cards, was in
debt from college, and owed everyone, and this was the only way he could
make it in life financially. He never denied having killed his family.
When asked if he intended that Rick and Robin be at the house on that
Friday, he responded by nodding his head up and down. When asked "why,"
Coulson paused and said that question was too difficult to answer.
In his defense, Coulson presented several witnesses
to counter the State's evidence. A neighbor testified that he had not
seen Coulson in the neighborhood that day. Also, several friends and
neighbors of his parents testified that they had never heard Coulson say
derogatory things about his family, and never knew of any problems
between them.
Coulson testified in his own defense. He "explained"
all the evidence in a more favorable light and denied killing any member
of his family. Coulson accused Althaus of being romantically interested
in him, and of being obsessed with him.
Coulson claimed he was
uncomfortable around Althaus and intended to move out, despite the tape-recorded
conversation in which Coulson tells Althaus that he loves him, that he
will not interfere in Althaus' relationships anymore. (While it does not
appear that the two were romantically involved, the tape-recorded
conversation contradicts any assertion that Coulson was uncomfortable
with Althaus' feelings toward him.)
On cross examination, Coulson denied the testimony of
eight witnesses, including his cousin and several police officers, and
accused them of lying under oath. Coulson also claimed that three other
witnesses were mistaken about what they heard.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Coulson was tried before the 182nd District Court of
Harris County, Texas, and found guilty of capital murder on June 16,
1994. After a separate punishment phase, the court sentenced Coulson to
death on June 22, 1994.
Coulson's conviction and sentence were affirmed
on direct appeal. His conviction became final on Jan. 14, 1997, when the
time for filing a petition for writ of certiorari in this Court expired.
Coulson filed an application for post conviction writ
of habeas corpus in the state court on Sept. 5, 1997. On Nov. 3, 1998,
the 180th District Court of Harris County held an evidentiary hearing on
the petition for writ of habeas corpus concerning allegations of police
and prosecutorial misconduct.
The court adopted the State's proposed
findings of fact and conclusions of law on Jan. 5, 1999, and found that
Coulson failed to demonstrate that his conviction was unlawfully
obtained. The Court of Criminal Appeals denied state habeas relief on
June 9, 1999.
Coulson filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in
federal court on Aug. 9, 1999, and supplemental briefs in support. The
Federal District Court granted the Director's motion for summary
judgment on Aug. 31, 2000. Concurrent with this decision, the district
court granted Coulson a certificate of appealability as to his false
evidence claim, but denied COA as to all others. Coulson filed a motion
for reconsideration and a motion to alter or amend judgment on Sept. 9,
2000.
The district court granted the motion for reconsideration of
judgment, but once again granted the Director's motion for summary
judgment and dismissed Coulson's petition with prejudice. The court
granted in part Coulson's motion to alter or amend judgment, and
extended COA to cover two additional claims.
After hearing oral argument, the Fifth Circuit Court
of Appeals affirmed the District Court's denial of relief. The Supreme
Court denied Coulson's petition for writ of certiorari on March 18,
2002.
PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY
Coulson had no prior criminal history.
- Supplemental Application for Conditional Pardon
filed
- We were finally able to get an Episcopal priest
-Jim Morgan, Rector of St. Stephens, Huntsville, in to see Bob. He
celebrated communion with Bob yesterday (June 19) and they had a good 2
hour visit. Jim Morgan and his church will hold a vigil at 5:00 o'clock
the evening of the execution, in Bob's honor.
- NEWS CONFERENCE
- See Robert Anthony Phillips report: What about Bob?
- Bob still has a date for June 25th, 2002. The
courts blocked Bob's last appeal
- Bob has decided to request a “conditional pardon”,
rather then a full pardon which would require his immediate release. Bob
will be arguing his innocence as well as all of the problems that
happened in his trial and appeal as reasons why he should be granted
this conditional pardon. What would happen if this pardon is granted is
that Bob’s current conviction would be gone and Bob would agree (here is
the condition) to be retried on these charges. Bob is taking the risk of
being convicted again but is willing to constitutionally guaranteed
right to a fair trial and a fair appeal he has never had. Bob would not
be immediately released if this pardon is granted, he would be sent back
to Houston to await a new trial. Basically Bob would start back as
square one like he had just been arrested on these charges. If this
pardon is granted, it would be just like if the appeal courts had
reversed Bob’s conviction and ordered that the State retry him on the
charges, only rather then the courts doing it the Governor and Board of
Pardons and Paroles would be doing it. Bob would have another trial but
this time the state would not be allowed to use the evidence they made
up last time. Bob would also be allowed to use all of the evidence the
state withheld from him in the first trial, evidence that attacks some
of the case against Bob. Bob will also get to use all of the new
evidence that has been discovered since his first trial. Since Bob is
innocent he would prefer to be released but feels he has a better chance
of getting a conditional pardon and will therefor ask for one and try to
prove his innocence in a new trial.” read more - and how you can help