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in the United States of America some of
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the world's most notorious criminals are
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locked behind
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bars one of those is James
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Robertson he was sent to prison for
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violent crimes at an early
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age he wasn't 17 yet he commits serious
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offenses aggravated batteries assaults
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on Law Enforcement
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Officers he is a criminal who has
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refused to comply he escaped with his
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codefendant and they were caught and now
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he faced another case another charge and
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he got two more years consecutive he met
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criteria for psychopathy that means that
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engaging in criminal activity he had
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very little remorse and very little
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empathy for all of those acts he engaged
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in now Behind Bars Robertson has
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targeted those working in the jail I was
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stabbed in the center of the chest and
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then he stabbed me one more time uh in
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the stomach they are people that would
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kill you as soon as you opened your
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mouth if you said something wrong you
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have to be trained for and if you're not
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you're going to end up
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dead he is one of the most feared men in
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the US prison system he's going to be in
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danger with anyone he comes into contact
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with because he's so focused on serving
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his own needs that it really doesn't
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matter who is in his way he actually
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confronted his cellmate and said to him
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I'm going to give you a choice I can tie
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you up and torture you or I can kill you
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locked away for life he has nothing to
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lose he started at a young age and it
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just went from bad to worse anybody can
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be collateral damage and that's what
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makes him one of the most dangerous
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prisoners he had choked him with dental
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floss and then he finished with a song
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He's sitting there with a corpse he's
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eating breakfast and he's just sitting
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[Music]
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there Charlotte Correctional Institute
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is a state prison in Florida flid United
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States Charlotte Correctional was a very
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very difficult tough prison the
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environment for me working there was the
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closest thing to being in Hell the smell
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the inmates constantly masturbated they
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were shouting they were banging they
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were flooding their cells it was very
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very
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difficult on one floor of the prison are
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a group of prisoners so dangerous they
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are underwatch
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24/7 these aren't just inmates who have
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assaulted murdered and raped in the
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community these are inmates that
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continue to assault and rape and murder
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while they're in prison so they require
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a high level of security a high level of
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monitoring James Robertson is one of
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them Robertson is probably one of the
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most dangerous inmates in the United
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States prison system he's going to be a
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danger to inmates he's going to be a
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danger to staff he's going to be a
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danger to correction
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officers December 19th 2011 when I came
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to work and my life kind of changed
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forever during my shift I was walking my
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rounds James Robertson was in his cell
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and asked me to take the trash out for
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him I made a mistake and opened his cell
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door and was actually attacked and
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stabbed by
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James he was incarcerated I believe at
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the age of 16 initially they were
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nonviolent crimes but he quickly
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escalated to violence he commits serious
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offenses berley rest structur aggravated
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assault and a law enforcement officer
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aggravated battery he was originally
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sentenced to 10 years in prison but once
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he was incarcerated he decided that he
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wanted to go to death row and so he
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decided to murder his cellmate in order
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to get the death
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penalty
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my name is an otwell and I've been at
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Charlotte kraal as a forensic mental
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health nurse for 30
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years when I first met James he was
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angry he had been in prison for many
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years many years he had a wrap sheet
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that was
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unbelievable while he was in the prison
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he committed some pretty bad crimes
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first-degree attempted murder aggravated
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battery
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he never
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stopped consecutive sentence after
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consecutive sentence no stop and then
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plotting out a
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murder because that's what he
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did he was probably able to engage in
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assaults and murder with little to no
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feeling of any kind of empathy or
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remorse around that anyone who could
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commit the crimes he did and not be
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phased and continue to commit these
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crimes
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what does he have to
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lose before James Robertson was first
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imprison he had lived in Florida his
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whole life James Robertson was born in
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Orlando Florida May 26
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1963 the family ties were not good it
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was not what you'd call a Brady Bunch
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family my name is Mike gried I was an
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officer for the Department of
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Corrections for a period of 20 3 years
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James Robertson told me that his father
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beat him he told me his father was an
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alcoholic told me his mother was an
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alcoholic he told me his brothers had
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been in the prison system Robertson had
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a very tumultuous childhood he also had
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a history of abuse his father used to
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beat him physically in addition he came
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from a very low socioeconomic background
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he had a lot of poverty and he was not
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placed in the best schools
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he also started engaging in drug use at
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a very early age these are all risk
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factors for James Robertson to go on and
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engage in criminal activity at a very
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early age which is exactly what he
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did on February 25th of
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1975 he commits shoplifting not a real
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serious crime kids do that all the time
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he had started his crimes at 12 years
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old and it just went from bad to worse
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Robertson was hardly ever at school
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instead he chose to spend his time
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hanging out in his neighborhood robbing
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anyone and anything he had so far
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managed to avoid a custodial
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sentence it's like you're skating on ice
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but it's starting to Splinter the fact
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that he does one thing in January and
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another thing in February sends me the
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message that he doesn't care where is
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anybody to sit him down where is a
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juvenile counselor to sit him down and
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and speak to him and and tell him this
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is not going to end
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well the brain doesn't fully develop
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until the age of 24 some of these
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juveniles tend to act out which
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ultimately ends up having early contact
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with law enforcement getting arrested at
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an early age and it just becomes a
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pattern ending up in Correctional
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Facilities as opposed to getting the
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help they require
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in 1978 when Robertson was just 14 years
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old a violent attack on three youths saw
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him back in
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court this was a junile case in Orange
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County it was three counts of aggravated
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battery and that's serious because you
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have victim injury one of the youth had
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a cut and abrasions on his neck one was
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hit in the chest and one was hit under
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the right eye in the top of the right
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foot and right
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leg he's found guilty of two counts he
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was committed to youth services for an
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indetermined
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sentence less than a year later
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Robertson was kicked out of the school
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and it was not long before he was back
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in trouble with the law he wasn't 17 yet
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he would be 17 in a couple of weeks May
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26th he commits serious offenses berley
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rest structured he went in to steal
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something the cops came he threatened
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the office
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officers he committed aggravated assault
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two
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counts don't forget he he burglarized a
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building so we don't know what he had in
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his hand and he said you come near me
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and I'm going to do so and so well he
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just jumped it up to aggravate it now
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you have a third degree felony those are
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serious
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crimes Robertson was seen as a volatile
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and dangerous individual he was securely
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locked away in an adult Institution for
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the first time and he was sentenced each
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count four years State Prison normally
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it's concurrent this judge made it
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consecutive so now he's got 8 years you
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don't go to prison right away so he was
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sent to the county jail the county jails
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are for you know pre-trial to dises um
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or people who have a sentence of less
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than a year people usually think that a
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County Jail is where you know it's
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smaller crimes and things like that but
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we actually have a wide array of inmates
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there very wide spectrum including
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people who are on death row or doing
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life
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sentences he's in the county jail you
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think he would learn no no not
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him after being behind bars for just 3
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months Robertson had had enough and
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plotted an escape he escaped with his
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codefendant and they were caught and now
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he faced another case another charge and
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he got two more years consecutive now
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he's looking at 10
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years all of his arrest record and I'm
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seeing absolutely no
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remorse Robertson was transferred to a
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maximum security State Prison you can't
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compare a Maximum Security Prison to a
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County Jail there's just no comparison
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he's a 17-year-old now he's going to a
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state prison and he's newbie he's never
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been in a state institution and there
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are some really bad guys in state prison
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most people that age would really be
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afraid what's interesting about Mr
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Robinson is that after he was arrested
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and initially sentenced to 10 years in
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prison now 10 years is a long time but
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it's not a life sentence he continued to
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engage in really egregious criminal
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activity in prison including stabbing
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and riots
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prisons obviously are a dangerous place
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to work because they House people who
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have engaged in violent crimes and
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things like rape and murder and assault
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and batteries for new inmates coming in
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it's a different world we had a lot of
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older inmates who prayed on the younger
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inmates it's a difficult situation to be
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in especially if you're brand new to the
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directional
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facilities one of the first inmates
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17-year-old James Robertson encountered
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was Efron Yuro his words here are voiced
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by an
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actor I was on the exercise yard working
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out when a Mexican friend of mine walked
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up to me with a little blond haired
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blue-eyed white kid and said hey Chan
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look at this little white boy he just
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got off the
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bus well when I saw him I laughed walked
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up to him and said you're cute and I
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pinched his
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face well no sooner than I touched his
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face the scrawny little run scarcely
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weighing 126 lb soak and wet hauled off
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and swung on me hitting me in the
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face Robertson had quickly learned how
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to stay
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alive and a lot of them will look for
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protection from other inmates there are
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gangs in the prison system whether it's
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a black gang Hispanic gang skin heads
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you know the supremist or stuff like
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that so it's what direction are you
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going to turn who is going to help you
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and at what cost there's always a
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price couldn't believe this little run
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swung on me before I knew it he ran for
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a curlbar that was lying on the ground
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in the weight pile grabbed it and he was
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cocking it back to swing it at me I
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moved in and took him
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down I quickly began to apologize saying
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okay okay shorty I'm sorry I'm going to
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let you get up now I don't want any more
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trouble from you he looked at me just
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repeated don't try me don't try me over
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and over and then never did it
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again that was how I met James Robertson
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AKA chicken head way back in
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1981 he was 17 years old
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then demographically most of the young
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white guys who thought they were real
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tough on the outside side they come into
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a state prison and you know what am I
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doing here I'm
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afraid there's officers there they do
00:14:06
checks and stuff like that but things
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happen you can't prevent
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everything you always have inmates who
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are willing to engage in violence and
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illegal activities even after they are
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incarcerated he seemed to be on a course
00:14:21
to prove
00:14:23
himself if James Robertson had kept his
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head down he could have walked free from
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prison
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before he turned 30 but that just wasn't
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going to
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happen at the age of 17 James Robertson
00:14:43
also known as chicken head was sent to
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State Prison after being convicted of
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burglary aggravated assault and
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attempted
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Escape he was sentenced to 10 years
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behind
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bars so I don't know if you would have
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got gotten pared I I really don't know
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but he would have been done only 27
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years
00:15:05
old James Robertson had initially got
00:15:08
protection from an older prisoner Ephron
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yo I told the Predators who were
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stalking him wanted to rape him that he
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was no punk and wasn't going to be a
00:15:19
punk and that I was enforcing that
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unfortunately I ended up getting into a
00:15:25
fight and was transferred after I left
00:15:27
chicken head got into some was somebody
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who tried him and transferred to Cross
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City Correctional
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Institution this was the beginning of
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the end for
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Robertson he was transferred from
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facility to facility if he committed a
00:15:43
crime in there if it was fighting if
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there was an assault then they'll ship
00:15:47
him out to another prison and in his
00:15:50
case he went back and forth a lot he was
00:15:53
bouncing around like a rubber ball from
00:15:55
one institution to another and nothing
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slowed him down
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everywhere Robertson went trouble was
00:16:02
not far
00:16:03
behind from
00:16:06
1985 these crimes that were committed
00:16:08
transmitting Contraband in a state
00:16:11
facility aggravated battery with a
00:16:13
deadly weapon introducing a weapon into
00:16:15
a state facility Escape battery and a
00:16:19
law enforcement officer construct a
00:16:21
possession of a
00:16:23
weapon I've come across a multitude of
00:16:26
weapons stabbing devices slashing
00:16:30
devices batteries and rocks inside of a
00:16:33
sock so they swing it around they hit
00:16:34
you on the head with it when they really
00:16:36
want to kill somebody and they're really
00:16:38
desperate and they don't have access to
00:16:41
making weapons what they will do is they
00:16:43
will cut out a piece of their cell their
00:16:45
locker they'll get a needle cuz the
00:16:48
needle's made out of titanium and they
00:16:50
will Trace over and over and over again
00:16:53
till they punch it out and when they
00:16:55
punch out that piece of uh metal they
00:16:57
sharpen it and that's how they make
00:16:59
what's known as a Bone Crusher they call
00:17:02
it a Bone Crusher cuz it's deep enough
00:17:03
to penetrate the
00:17:06
bones every time Robertson got into
00:17:09
trouble more years were added to his
00:17:14
sentence he got caught up in some
00:17:17
situations at different prisons where
00:17:20
they said he had done he had stabbed
00:17:22
someone he caught more time trying to
00:17:25
escape more time when they took him from
00:17:28
the jail to the courthouse I believe he
00:17:31
took the officer's gun and was going to
00:17:33
shoot him he caught more time he ended
00:17:36
up
00:17:38
life everything is running consecutive I
00:17:42
have to quickly Envision this in my mind
00:17:44
as how many years this kid is looking
00:17:48
at and nothing stops him it seems like
00:17:52
criminal activity became a norm for him
00:17:56
most inmates go to prison and they just
00:17:57
do their time and go home but you have
00:17:59
your
00:18:00
exceptions and typically the common
00:18:03
denominator would be that they have
00:18:04
antisocial personality disorder and or
00:18:07
their Psychopaths especially if they are
00:18:09
the world's most dangerous
00:18:14
criminals as Robertson's violence
00:18:16
escalated so did the
00:18:19
punishments he's a threat to officers
00:18:21
they can't control him look look what
00:18:23
he's doing he's a threat to inmates
00:18:25
because he's fighting with them and
00:18:27
basically he's a threat to himself
00:18:29
because sooner or later he's going to
00:18:31
get his when inmates start to fight
00:18:34
officers have to break it up it's not
00:18:36
always an easy task and you can get hurt
00:18:39
then he's going to be reviewed for close
00:18:41
management because he is in
00:18:44
danger in 1988 James Robertson was sent
00:18:48
to close management also known as
00:18:52
CM close management inmates they're on
00:18:55
23-hour lockdown with 1 hour of
00:18:58
recreation in a secured perimeter area
00:19:02
also surrounded by razor
00:19:06
wire the inmates were fed through a food
00:19:09
slot you might have inmates in there
00:19:12
that have committed aggravated battery
00:19:14
on Law Enforcement Officers assaults on
00:19:16
Law Enforcement Officers rape all all
00:19:19
kinds but they can't walk the compound
00:19:22
because of the danger they possess to
00:19:25
other inmates or
00:19:27
officers
00:19:30
so basically it is confinement for 23
00:19:32
hours in a 6x8 cell the only saving
00:19:37
grace I guess for them is the fact that
00:19:38
they're not sharing that cell with
00:19:40
another
00:19:42
inmate there is no television there are
00:19:45
typically no books there are typically
00:19:47
nothing to occupy their time and so that
00:19:50
gives inmates a lot of time to engage in
00:19:54
maladaptive behaviors and more criminal
00:19:57
activity such as using drugs such as
00:19:59
fighting such as plotting such as trying
00:20:02
to manipulate so he was probably fueled
00:20:05
by anger probably decided that he was
00:20:08
not going to ever do the right thing and
00:20:10
just figured it was the perfect
00:20:12
environment for him to carry on with his
00:20:14
Psychopathic and criminal Tendencies
00:20:17
once released from close management
00:20:19
Robertson was usually sent back after
00:20:21
breaking more rules this continued for
00:20:24
the next 18
00:20:27
years in 2006 he was sent to Charlotte
00:20:31
Correctional
00:20:32
Institution I worked at Charlotte
00:20:34
Correctional Institution until
00:20:38
2021 Charlotte Correctional was a
00:20:41
Maximum Security Prison although
00:20:44
Charlotte was one of the cleanest
00:20:46
prisons that I had been at the heat was
00:20:49
unbearable and the inmates got showered
00:20:52
three times a week so you can imagine
00:20:56
walking into a quad
00:20:59
this stench would just hit you was like
00:21:01
being in a
00:21:02
sewer at the time he went to Charlotte
00:21:05
County in 2006 he was already at that
00:21:08
time 43 and he was looking at years more
00:21:12
of custody if you add up all these years
00:21:15
consecutively I'd have to get a
00:21:16
calculator
00:21:18
out as soon as he arrived Robertson was
00:21:21
put into close management again the
00:21:24
noise was constantly yelling banging
00:21:28
hollering at each other foul words most
00:21:31
of the noise from CM was at
00:21:36
night they were up all night long
00:21:38
banging yelling all night long so during
00:21:43
the day it was noisy but at night it was
00:21:45
even
00:21:47
worse the years of close management had
00:21:51
taken a toll on James Robertson we have
00:21:54
a lot of mental health in the prison
00:21:56
system if you aren't having problems
00:21:59
when you go in the system you will have
00:22:02
problems if you've got a long drawn out
00:22:05
sentence you
00:22:07
will Robertson also had a drug problem
00:22:12
when somebody is addicted to substances
00:22:14
they are more likely to engage in
00:22:16
high-risk behaviors as a direct result
00:22:18
of those substances as well as an
00:22:20
attempt to get money for those
00:22:22
substances being a forensic mental
00:22:24
health nurse is taking care of inmates
00:22:28
who are on psychotropic drugs a nurse
00:22:31
that takes care of the mentally insane
00:22:34
and mentally challenged people in the
00:22:38
prison
00:22:39
system James Robertson was running my
00:22:43
patience his anger was just unbelievable
00:22:47
he was a big man to begin with he had
00:22:49
his passive aggressive behavior with us
00:22:52
he had been on every drug crack LSD
00:22:56
cocaine marijuana
00:22:59
K2 he had been on everything in his life
00:23:03
in the system everything you name it he
00:23:06
was on
00:23:07
it having been in the highest level of
00:23:10
close management for many years James
00:23:13
Robertson was eventually moved to a
00:23:15
lower level known as
00:23:18
cm3 cm3 they have a cellmate it's a
00:23:21
gradual increase of Freedom so to speak
00:23:25
from Lockdown
00:23:27
237
00:23:29
between all the offenses that he
00:23:31
committed in the prison the fact that he
00:23:33
was in
00:23:34
cm3 was kind of a miracle because it's a
00:23:38
gradual step towards release on to the
00:23:40
compound with general
00:23:42
population but even if it's cm3 you are
00:23:46
still confined this is a guy who spent
00:23:49
maybe 20 years in close management
00:23:52
custody and you reach a Breaking
00:23:56
Point it was too much for Robert
00:23:59
he made his ultimate wish clear to
00:24:01
anyone that asked James always told me I
00:24:07
hate it here I'm going to be on the row
00:24:10
because you people treat me like a dog
00:24:12
like an animal I hate close management I
00:24:15
want to be on the road and just quiet I
00:24:19
don't want to go open population and I'm
00:24:21
sick of close management so that was his
00:24:25
ultimate goal was to be on death row
00:24:28
I think Robertson wanted to die and
00:24:32
maybe I'm wrong but when he said I want
00:24:34
to make a statement I want them to take
00:24:35
me seriously maybe in the back of his
00:24:38
mind the death penalty now they're going
00:24:40
to take me seriously I did it and I died
00:24:45
but personally if he really wanted to
00:24:47
die he could have killed himself I think
00:24:48
he was a
00:24:51
coward while in cm3 James Robertson met
00:24:55
his new cmate 52-year-old Frank
00:24:59
Frank C was a sex offender and I believe
00:25:03
he was close to being released he really
00:25:05
didn't like Frank cart I don't think he
00:25:07
liked the idea that he was a sex
00:25:10
offender there's a code in prison they
00:25:13
hate pedopiles and he told them do not
00:25:17
put a pedophile in myself and
00:25:20
unfortunately Frank Hart was a pedophile
00:25:23
and when they put him in James's cell he
00:25:26
realized that this was his way out he
00:25:29
was going to kill
00:25:34
him on December 10th 2008 James
00:25:38
Robertson decided it was the moment to
00:25:40
act on his
00:25:41
plan they're alone in a Cell he's been
00:25:45
in close management enough to know the
00:25:47
routine of cell
00:25:48
checks the breakfast comes and it goes
00:25:51
to the food slot James Robertson ate his
00:25:53
breakfast and Hart's
00:25:57
breakfast and officer came in to do the
00:25:59
cell check just to make sure everything
00:26:01
is okay and of course things were not
00:26:05
okay and I got a call from one of the
00:26:07
nurses that was passing meds and James
00:26:10
had given her a note and said don't
00:26:14
bother to give Frank Hart his medicine I
00:26:17
killed him yesterday James Robertson had
00:26:20
strangled his cmate Frank Hart to death
00:26:23
the night before James Robertson took
00:26:25
socks and he tied them together he did
00:26:28
the deed he strangled and made
00:26:33
[Music]
00:26:38
heart after being moved to a less strict
00:26:40
level of close management James
00:26:42
Robertson had attacked and killed his
00:26:44
cellmate at the first opportunity when
00:26:47
we got Frank har up to the medical
00:26:50
Department in our emergency room I saw
00:26:53
the dental floss around his neck and he
00:26:55
had first choked him with the dental
00:26:57
floss and then he finished with a sock
00:27:01
and that was the day
00:27:03
before this was not a quick and easy
00:27:06
murder this was something that was
00:27:12
torturous Robertson later on stated that
00:27:15
he had murdered Mr Hart because he was a
00:27:18
sex offender which we all know sex
00:27:21
offenders tend to be low on the totem
00:27:23
pole and Correctional Facilities however
00:27:25
I'm not convinced that that's really the
00:27:27
reason Mr Robertson murdered Mr Hart
00:27:30
what I believe is that he was a
00:27:32
convenient Target but at the end of the
00:27:34
day Mr Robertson was going to murder
00:27:37
whoever was going to be the most
00:27:39
convenient for him to get sent to death
00:27:43
row James Robertson was now facing a
00:27:47
murder
00:27:48
conviction I personally never had an
00:27:50
inmate tell me they wish they were on
00:27:52
death row like in the case of James
00:27:55
Robertson but I have had inmates tell me
00:27:57
that they wouldn't mind killing their
00:27:59
cellmate to have single cell status
00:28:01
which means being alone in their cell I
00:28:04
always knew that he wanted to be on
00:28:06
death
00:28:08
row I just never knew what he was going
00:28:10
to do or when it was going to happen but
00:28:13
it didn't surprised me with him
00:28:15
especially with James cuz he was adamant
00:28:19
it was funny because the next day we
00:28:22
were transferring Frank Hart to another
00:28:26
prison but I don't believe that James
00:28:28
knew
00:28:31
that usually the inmates know everything
00:28:34
they know it before we know
00:28:37
it Robertson was charged with
00:28:40
murder and sent to Charlotte County Jail
00:28:43
to await
00:28:48
sentencing my name is Barry moly and I
00:28:50
am a former Corrections Deputy with the
00:28:52
Charlotte County Sheriff's Department
00:28:54
basically you know uh care custody and
00:28:56
control of inmates I would go in there
00:28:58
we were a direct supervision facility
00:29:01
which means we were directly in with the
00:29:04
inade
00:29:06
population Barry amoli was working at
00:29:09
Charlotte County Jail in October 2009
00:29:13
when James Robertson was transferred
00:29:15
there for hearings on his murder
00:29:17
charge Robertson was back in the highest
00:29:20
level of close management
00:29:24
cm1 James Robertson was at an elevated
00:29:27
custody level with us not somebody who
00:29:29
could be around other inmates or put in
00:29:31
general population um he was known to be
00:29:33
a violent offender he was cm1 close
00:29:35
management a completely different set of
00:29:37
rules than the open population inmates
00:29:39
in the regular pods uh the inmates in
00:29:41
his particular area most of them were
00:29:44
looking at a long prison sentence they
00:29:47
got their hour of recreation several
00:29:49
times a week they got their showers but
00:29:50
they were
00:29:53
confined Barry amole knew James
00:29:55
Robertson from the various periods he
00:29:57
had been incarcerated at the
00:30:01
jail James Robertson was an individual
00:30:05
among a bunch of characters and he was
00:30:07
different he was an institutionalized
00:30:10
person who'd been in prison for a very
00:30:11
long time he didn't want problems that
00:30:13
he didn't need he didn't create a lot of
00:30:15
issues he was quiet though he's very
00:30:17
respectful to
00:30:19
me James Robertson was charged with
00:30:22
second deegree murder but fired various
00:30:24
defense lawyers because he wanted to be
00:30:27
charged with first deegree murder and be
00:30:29
sent to death row he had about seven
00:30:32
attorneys I think I I I lost count he
00:30:35
wanted to be put to death because he's
00:30:37
had enough of this life behind the door
00:30:40
for all these years and he's just tired
00:30:43
of
00:30:44
it most inmates do not want to go to
00:30:47
death row they don't want to be put to
00:30:48
death however there is this rumor around
00:30:52
prisons that death row is very cushy he
00:30:54
wanted to go to death row because he he
00:30:56
wanted to get away from everybody and
00:30:59
death row is quieter death row is
00:31:01
smaller he doesn't have to deal with all
00:31:04
the things that are going on in close
00:31:08
management ultimately he just wanted to
00:31:10
be out of this
00:31:14
life James it always seemed to me that
00:31:17
he had something in mind I really do
00:31:19
feel like he had a very dangerous
00:31:21
thought process that was constantly
00:31:24
going in his mind he was always
00:31:25
analyzing he was always looking he was
00:31:27
quiet and you know the quiet ones are
00:31:28
sometimes the most dangerous so wasn't
00:31:30
the biggest strongest wasn't the one who
00:31:32
was going to kick the door off the
00:31:32
hinges and come get you but you'll make
00:31:35
a mistake and he'll figure a away and
00:31:37
and he's going to accomplish what he
00:31:38
wants to
00:31:42
accomplish Robertson was still searching
00:31:45
for an opportunity to escalate his
00:31:47
sentence so this is why I walked in the
00:31:49
facility December 19th 2011 and began my
00:31:53
shift I worked the maximum segregation
00:31:56
unit which was where James Robertson was
00:32:00
they are people that would kill you as
00:32:03
soon as you opened your mouth if you
00:32:04
said something wrong if they weren't
00:32:05
behind the gate it's not something that
00:32:09
you want to be exposed to it's something
00:32:12
that you have to be trained for and if
00:32:15
you're not you're going to end up
00:32:19
dead James knocked on his door and asked
00:32:22
me to empty his garbage when he asked me
00:32:24
to do that typically we take the garbage
00:32:26
through the food flap um but he started
00:32:28
spilling everywhere and making a mess so
00:32:30
I just without thinking put my key in
00:32:31
and opened his door so he wouldn't make
00:32:33
a
00:32:34
mess as soon as I put the key in and
00:32:37
opened the door James rushed the door
00:32:39
attempted to push it open I tried to
00:32:41
stop him from coming out of the cell but
00:32:43
it was too late he was already too far
00:32:45
out so at that point the fight was
00:32:47
on James had had fashioned two long
00:32:51
pieces of metal that were pointy he had
00:32:53
sharpened them he had used a t-shirt to
00:32:56
Fashion handles on them and then BL
00:32:58
wrist straps so that they were attached
00:32:59
to him and they were coming through his
00:33:00
hands kind of like
00:33:02
Wolverine he stabbed me in the arm the
00:33:04
first time as he was trying to get out
00:33:06
the door it was on at that point I knew
00:33:08
I wasn't going to be able to force him
00:33:10
back into the cell by pushing the door
00:33:12
and I was going to have to let him out
00:33:14
and face him face to
00:33:16
face asked me for my keys which I told
00:33:19
him no and clipped them into my
00:33:21
belt I was giving him veral commands
00:33:24
like we're trying to do stop what are
00:33:25
you doing you know what is this I knew
00:33:27
he wasn't going to stop so as soon as he
00:33:29
went for another punch I was able to
00:33:32
punch him a couple of
00:33:34
times I think it made him a little dizzy
00:33:37
I think I hit him good enough that it
00:33:39
took the wind out of his sails and he
00:33:40
kind of slumped and then right at that
00:33:44
time the officer that I was working with
00:33:45
she came to the door and she opened the
00:33:47
door and so I kind of switch gears it's
00:33:49
like well I do not want her in here
00:33:51
involved this guy has two knives
00:33:53
attached to his hand so I ran to the
00:33:55
door I pushed her out the door we
00:33:57
secured the door back
00:34:03
down it wasn't until after and I could
00:34:06
see that I was bleeding out of the two
00:34:08
places where I had been
00:34:10
stabbed Barry amolly was taken to
00:34:12
hospital and treated for his
00:34:15
injuries which luckily were not
00:34:18
life-threatening I I'd be lying if I
00:34:20
said I wasn't shocked and that's part of
00:34:21
the complacency that is so dangerous in
00:34:24
this business but the training that I
00:34:25
had done here and that I was given with
00:34:27
the Sheriff's Department it came into
00:34:29
play and it saved my
00:34:32
[Music]
00:34:34
life an investigation into the incident
00:34:37
clarified Robertson's
00:34:40
intentions I made up my mind before I
00:34:43
even opened up the door I made up my
00:34:44
mind if he tries to Buck I'm just going
00:34:46
to stab a few times let him know I'm
00:34:48
serious you know I wasn't ke you know I
00:34:50
mean he didn't give me no choice I don't
00:34:52
want to kill a guard I just wanted to
00:34:53
kill an inmate so I can go death
00:34:56
roll
00:34:58
James Robertson was charged with
00:35:00
attempted second-degree murder and
00:35:02
attempted robbery with a deadly
00:35:04
weapon he wanted to kill another inmate
00:35:07
that was house several cells down from
00:35:09
him that inmate had been very vocal
00:35:11
towards James and was unknown sexual
00:35:13
predator and James didn't really care
00:35:14
for those type of individuals James's
00:35:17
plan was to steal my keys from me at all
00:35:19
costs if that meant killing me it's what
00:35:21
it was then go down and get him in his
00:35:23
cell and stab him to death so you're
00:35:26
going to continue to kill inmates so you
00:35:28
get death R that's right you know and I
00:35:30
meant what I
00:35:37
said James Robertson had been on a
00:35:40
mission to be sent to death row now he
00:35:43
had killed a fellow inmate he was facing
00:35:45
new
00:35:47
charges I was a member of the Florida
00:35:51
Department of Corrections for a period
00:35:52
of 23 years and during that time I did
00:35:57
the pre sentence investigation for
00:35:59
inmate James
00:36:01
Robertson Robertson who was at the
00:36:04
Charlotte County Sheriff's Office jail
00:36:06
awaiting sentencing on account of
00:36:09
first-degree murder of inmate Frank
00:36:12
Hart the pre-sentence investigation is
00:36:15
basically a report submitted to the
00:36:18
court to show the judge everything about
00:36:22
this
00:36:23
defendant without the prenten
00:36:25
investigation all the judge knows about
00:36:28
the defendant is what he has read on the
00:36:31
arrest report and the prior record the
00:36:33
judge doesn't know anything
00:36:35
socioeconomically he doesn't know how he
00:36:36
was raised his mental health alcohol and
00:36:39
drug abuse substance abuse and these are
00:36:42
important
00:36:43
things when I pulled his records I found
00:36:46
his behavior from the time he was 12
00:36:49
years old he was
00:36:51
ungovernable he was intolerable he did
00:36:55
not seem to ever stop stop engaging in
00:36:58
violence he did not seem to ever stop
00:37:00
engaging in rule
00:37:03
breaking from the time he was a juvenile
00:37:06
James Robertson was screaming for mental
00:37:10
health counseling nothing seemed to
00:37:12
affect him consecutive sentence after
00:37:15
consecutive sentence after consecutive
00:37:17
he knew there's no way he's going to see
00:37:19
the light of day and yet he
00:37:22
continues he had no
00:37:25
childhood he became an adult at 12 and
00:37:29
that's not an excuse cuz I know a lot of
00:37:32
people that have never had a childhood
00:37:34
and came from broken home that's not an
00:37:36
excuse that's a choice so that was his
00:37:40
choice he chose that
00:37:42
road he chose those cards and he played
00:37:49
them I would say that Mr Robertson is
00:37:53
institutionalized just by the fact that
00:37:55
he's been incarcerated Essen his whole
00:37:58
adult life and he continued to reoffend
00:38:01
that being said I don't think Mr
00:38:03
Robertson would have been any different
00:38:05
out in the community I think he would
00:38:07
have continued to reoffend whether he
00:38:09
was in prison or not he seems to be a
00:38:12
complete psychopath by the very
00:38:14
definition of psychopathy and so the
00:38:17
environment really was not going to
00:38:19
change whether or not Mr Robertson was
00:38:21
going to engage in criminal
00:38:24
behaviors he was very angry and up with
00:38:27
the whole
00:38:30
situation he he had had about enough of
00:38:33
this in December 2012 Mike gotfried
00:38:37
interviewed James Robertson for this
00:38:39
pre-sentence report he was 49 years old
00:38:42
when I interviewed him spent 31 years in
00:38:46
prison I sit like I'm sitting facing you
00:38:50
he's there's a table between us and he
00:38:52
Shackled legs and hands and he's a
00:38:54
dangerous kind of guy it might sound
00:38:56
strange but he was very forthcoming he
00:39:00
didn't try to hide
00:39:01
anything he admitted to everything he
00:39:05
did I know he murdered his cellmate in
00:39:09
cm3 Frank Hart sometimes you can look at
00:39:12
a person see I like eye contact because
00:39:16
there's
00:39:17
signals movement of the eyes twitching
00:39:20
he didn't show any signs
00:39:23
of
00:39:26
wrongdoing
00:39:27
Robertson had killed Frank Hart for just
00:39:30
one reason he wanted to get out of close
00:39:33
management and be put on death row James
00:39:37
had been in prison for most of his adult
00:39:39
life I think that he was upset that he
00:39:42
didn't get the death penalty um for you
00:39:45
know his previous crimes and I think he
00:39:46
had just had enough I have a list of all
00:39:49
the institutions he's been in and it was
00:39:51
close management here close management
00:39:53
there and that was the thing that was
00:39:55
killing
00:39:56
him Frank har was not the nice guy of
00:39:59
the world but he had siblings he had a
00:40:03
family in fact when I spoke with his
00:40:06
family they wanted
00:40:08
retribution family is family now you
00:40:11
can't bring the victim back but someone
00:40:14
has to pay a
00:40:16
price and here's a person who wanted to
00:40:18
pay that
00:40:20
price he's facing first-degree murder
00:40:23
charges the only thing is whether he's
00:40:25
going to go to prison for the rest of
00:40:27
his life life without the possibility of
00:40:29
parole or whether he's going to get the
00:40:31
death
00:40:34
[Music]
00:40:40
penalty after I completed my report my
00:40:43
conclusion was there is no environment
00:40:46
and there are no resources that will
00:40:48
ever assist this offender in
00:40:52
Rehabilitation the recommendation was
00:40:55
for the death penalty
00:40:57
my conclusion was based on willful kill
00:41:01
or homicide that the death penalty was
00:41:08
Justice on December 18th 2012 James
00:41:12
Robertson was called to Charlotte County
00:41:14
Courthouse to discover his
00:41:17
fate he came in he was Shackled hands
00:41:20
legs and it was a SWAT team that brought
00:41:22
him in I saw him adjudicated guilty
00:41:26
sentenced to the death penalty and I
00:41:29
didn't see a look of
00:41:31
disbelief a look of
00:41:34
fear it's almost as if he knew this was
00:41:37
coming and it finally
00:41:40
arrived in February 2013 Robertson was
00:41:45
transferred to death row at Union
00:41:47
Correctional Institution in
00:41:49
Florida Mr Robertson was The Perfect
00:41:52
Storm to become somebody who was going
00:41:54
to ultimately end up on death row
00:41:58
James Robertson was always very
00:41:59
respectful to me and I never had any
00:42:02
idea that James Robertson would attack
00:42:04
me it was very
00:42:06
surprised that was being complacent I
00:42:09
changed my whole life since then because
00:42:11
of this
00:42:15
incident James Robertson had finally got
00:42:18
his wish and is now on death row but it
00:42:22
took the death of a fellow prisoner to
00:42:24
get him there he never had a break but
00:42:28
there's a lot of people out there that
00:42:30
never had a break but I go back to your
00:42:33
choices that you made he made that
00:42:35
choice no one else
00:42:39
did James will not be put to death
00:42:42
because there's so many others ahead of
00:42:43
him that he will die probably of natural
00:42:47
causes and he got what he wanted simple
00:42:50
as that he made the choice he got it and
00:42:53
that's it Mr Robertson is probably one
00:42:56
of the most dangerous inmates in the
00:42:59
United States prison system for the
00:43:00
simple fact that anyone can be a Target
00:43:04
he's going to be a danger to inmates
00:43:05
he's going to be a danger to staff he's
00:43:07
going to be a danger to correction
00:43:09
officers he's going to be in danger with
00:43:11
anyone he comes into contact with
00:43:14
because he's so focused on serving his
00:43:16
own needs that anybody can be collateral
00:43:18
damaged death throw is not a punishment
00:43:20
anymore you've already been punished you
00:43:23
know that eventually you're going to get
00:43:26
an execution dat you're just waiting for
00:43:28
your date that's your difference it's
00:43:43
[Music]
00:43:54
[Music]
00:43:56
over
00:44:00
[Music]
