Previous entry: Legalizing Torture
Next entry: New ban on doubting Danish priest
Related
Advertisements *
Advertise Here *
Elsewhere
Subscribe: RSS
 |
RNB's RSS feed What is this? |
Subscribe: Email
 |
 Subscribe by Email What is this? |
Most Popular
- Mercy Ministries exorcism books leaked
- RNB Roundup: Atheism ads get tax support; Holland bans Magic Mushrooms; Fritzl turns to Buddhism; More…
- UK pastor who claimed to produce ‘miracle babies’ another step closer to extradition
- Europe court says no to turban on Sikh’s driving licence
- Child of Jehovah’s Witnesses can be given blood, judge says
- Two teens file lawsuit against evangelist Tony Alamo over beatings
- Decision expected this week on whether parents will face trial in faith healing death
- Church tries Goth Liturgy
- Japan: Security agency calls for extension of surveillance of Aum cult
- Ganas commune co-founder sues current and former members
Prosecutors: Boy tortured, murdered in Keys-area home
More articles on this topic: Ulysses RobersonFour-year-old Alexander Olive was hung by his ankles for two days and stood in a corner without food and water before being beaten to death with a piece of wood in a cold garage, an FBI agent testified Wednesday.
Special Agent Jeffrey Rinek’s testimony was the highlight of the preliminary hearing for Ulysses Roberson, who could face the death penalty for the alleged murder of his son in the Tahoe Keys area two decades ago.
Alexander’s body has not been found. The prosecution, led by Assistant District Attorney Hans Uthe, will decide this month whether to go forward with the death penalty. The preliminary hearing is used to determine whether enough evidence exists to send the case to trial.
The hearing provided a glimpse into a world of polygamy controlled by Roberson, who used astrology to lure women into his circle. Some were used to work and send money. Others were ordered to take care of the numerous children fathered by the Muslim.
Roberson wore a Kufi white cap during the hearing. He laughed several times during breaks and occasionally whispered to his attorney.
Rinek based his testimony on interviews with Pamalar Lewis, one of the numerous women in the “family” Roberson created in the 1980s.
Rinek said Roberson exclusively punished Alexander - who was given the name Salaam - for having a speech impediment, not knowing how to use the toilet and being white.
The boy was stripped naked and banished into the garage where the group lived at the 2100 block of Monterey Road, prosecutors say. The alleged torture and murder occurred around December 1985.
“(Lewis) said it was cold for her with clothes on,” Rinek said. “He was completely naked according to her description.”
Hours later Lewis returned to the garage to find Alexander in the fetal position. He barely moved. According to the testimony, Lewis covered him with a blanket without telling Roberson.
Roberson became enraged when discovering the blanket, Rinek said. Before beating him with a piece of wood, which Alexander barely reacted to, Roberson remarked the child had “spunk” for grabbing the blanket, Rinek said.
Afterwards, Roberson took the boy upstairs. He came down cradling a blanketed object in his arms and entered a van where other group members waited, the agent said.
Lewis and another child searched the house for Alexander to no avail. The group returned 24 hours later.
“Did she ever see Salaam again?” Uthe asked.
“No,” Rinek said.
Rinek was one of three FBI agents who testified in El Dorado County Superior Court.
Special Agent Adrianne Sparrow, from Portland, Ore., was questioned on her interview with Quinte Harris. Harris was 18 when he shared a Washington state prison cell with Roberson, who Harris knew as “Ali,” for two months in 1993.
Harris was curious on Roberson’s following of Islam and questioned him on the practice, Sparrow said. At one point Harris read something about the acceptance in the Muslim faith of burying an imperfect child in the desert, she said.
Roberson replied it wasn’t unusual and smiled when he said he did it once in a desert outside Sacramento, Sparrow said.
The first witness of the day, Special Agent Chris Campion, described the relationship between Roberson and Alexander’s mother, Judy Olive.
The two met in 1980 while Judy worked as a nurse in Houston. Roberson brought in a pregnant woman he claimed was his sister. He lured Judy to his place with promises of astrological insights and readings of the moles on her body, Campion said.
She became pregnant when she woke up to Roberson having sexual intercourse with her, Campion said.
Judy’s assignment was to work in San Francisco and send money to the group. On her off days she would rejoin the group at the homes in Sacramento or South Lake Tahoe and meditate to images of Roberson on a throne, Campion said.
Alexander stayed with the group. When Judy failed to see her son and asked about his disappearance Roberson gave her a broken jaw, according to testimony.
Defense attorney Ken Bonham asked about possible deals law enforcement made with witnesses for their cooperation. Bonham also tried to poke holes in possible discrepancies between witness testimonies and reports, and alluded to the initial reluctance of the district attorney’s office to prosecute.
South Lake Tahoe authorities have waited a long time to get Roberson in court. He was extradited last summer from a Washington state prison where he was serving a term for rape by intoxicating substance. He was scheduled to be released in 2006.
The hearing continues today at 8:30 a.m. in the upstairs courtroom, located at 1354 Johnson Blvd.
What You Can Do From Here
|
Read More Articles On These Topics
Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article
Subscribe
Read Another Article
Previous entry: Legalizing Torture Next entry: New ban on doubting Danish priest
RNB Homepage with latest headlinesFind Related Information
Find Related Books
|
Share This Article
To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:
