Rob Will Case Scenario

Death Penalty: Rob Will

In the dark hours of the early morning of December 4, 2000, twenty-one year old Robert Gene Will II and his friend, Michael Rosario, were stealing car parts. Deputy Sheriff Barrett Hill and Deputy Warren Kelly came upon the scene and “Mr. Will and Mr. Rosario ran in different directions. Deputy Hill chased Mr. Will, and Deputy Warren Kelly pursued Mr. Rosario.” (Grissom). Deputy Hill apprehended Rob Will and Deputy Kelly lost track of Mr. Rosario. Then “Eight seconds later, the radio recorded gunfire, gasping sounds and more gunfire.” A half an hour later Deputy Hill’s body was found with seven shell casings. It was reported Rob Will then fled to an apartment complex and held a woman at gun point and stole her vehicle.

No-one witnessed Harris County Deputy Sheriff Barrett Hill being shot and there is “No physical evidence linked him (Rob Will) to the murder” other than him being at the scene. Rob Will has claimed innocence from the beginning and has appealed his case. While his friend, Michael Rosario had confessed to the murder. It is unclear why Rob Will was sentenced to death even when Michael Rosario had confessed to murdering Deputy Hill. Both Will and Rosario have histories of past felonies. There was not any report as to what happened to Michael Rosario other than he was not charged with murder even though he was the one to confess to shooting the deputy. There are multiple testimonies with conflicting stories as to events that morning. One witness, the woman Will stole the car from at the apartment complex “told the police that Mr. Will had held a gun to her neck, said he had ‘just shot a policeman’ and then stole her car.” (Grissom). The second testimony came from Will’s ex—girlfriend who testified in 2011 that “Rosario had come to her apartment with blood on his pants and on one of his shoes. He told her that he had shot the deputy and then tried to shoot the handcuffs off Mr. Will.” It is unconfirmed who shot the