Rock Hill’s Jimmy Robertson asks to drop SC death row appeal. Is execution next?
Rock Hill’s James Robertson has been on South Carolina’s death row for the murder of his parents since 1999, and there has been a court-ordered federal halt to his execution in place since 2011.
But Robertson now wants to drop a federal appeal that he concedes could lead to his execution, documents in the case show.
On March 12, the S.C. Supreme Court denied Robertson’s request to hear a state appeal that had been going on for years.
The letter from Robertson on death row to Chief U.S. District Court Judge Timothy M. Cain filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Columbia says he wants to withdraw his federal appeal, relieve his lawyers, and represent himself. The letter states:
“Please excuse the informality of this letter. I have asked my attorney, Emily Paavola, to withdraw the federal habeas petition filed on my behalf. She has stated she will not do it. We have a difference of opinion as to what is in my best interest and it is unlikely that either of us will cede.
“I am being advised that despite my right and the competency to decide what is best for me, no ethical attorney will withdraw an appeal that will result in their client’s execution. Since none of my attorneys agree with my decision, I am not receiving any assistance in how best to go about this. This may not be the best or most efficient course of action but I am requesting that you relieve my attorneys and allow me to proceed pro se. Thank you for your time.”
Pro se means someone wants to represent himself.
In 2011, a federal judge issued a stay of execution order after Robertson filed a federal lawsuit challenging his state conviction and death sentence. That stay remains in effect, but Judge Cain wanted a reason by the end of this week for why the federal stay of execution should remain after the state Supreme Court denied the state appeal.
It remains unclear if Cain will accept Robertson’s request to drop the appeal or relieve his lawyers — one of whom was just appointed by a different federal judge last week.
Robertson is represented by attorneys Teresa Norris, a federal public defender, and Emily Paavola of South Carolina’s Justice 360 office, according to an order signed April 3 by a different South Carolina federal judge.
The Herald reached out to the defense attorneys by phone and email Monday but has not yet received a response.
Who is James Robertson?
A York County jury found Robertson guilty of double murder and sentenced him to death for the 1997 beating deaths of Terry and Earl Robertson at their home. Prosecutors said Robertson, known as Jimmy, wanted to get more than $2 million of his parents’ money.
Robertson was convicted of stabbing his mother to death, then crushing his father’s skull with a hammer and baseball bat after he blinded him with bathroom cleaner.
Earl Robertson had been an executive at Springs Industries. Jimmy killed both of his parents at the house, then tried to make the crime look like a break-in, police and prosecutors said.
Police arrested Robertson in Philadelphia following the killings after he drove up the east coast with his girlfriend at the time. Investigators recovered evidence of the crimes along the way, including bloody clothes at a rest area in Maryland. Robertson was a former Eagle Scout who went to Northwestern High School and Georgia Tech.
Robertson’s 1999 trial was broadcast on CourtTV. Since the trial, there have been TV specials about his case and a true crime book.
Now 51 years old, Robertson has been on death row more than half his life. He has been disciplined three times for allegedly trying to get a smuggled cellphone into the Columbia area prison where he is housed with other death row inmates, S.C. Department of Corrections records show.
The death penalty in South Carolina
South Carolina has executed four people since September after a 13-year pause, including one by firing squad. A fifth death row inmate could be executed as early as Friday, The State newspaper has reported.
South Carolina stopped executions in 2013 after the state ran out of the drugs needed to perform lethal injections — the only method allowed by state law at the time, according to The State. In 2021, state officials reintroduced the electric chair and firing squad as execution options along with lethal injection.
