Search Captions & Ask AI

Begging for Death Row: James Robertson | World’s Most Evil Prisoners

April 12, 2024 / 44:13

This episode discusses the violent criminal history of James Robertson, his life in prison, and his eventual sentencing to death row. Key topics include psychopathy, prison violence, and the impact of childhood trauma.

James Robertson was incarcerated at a young age for violent crimes, including aggravated assault and battery. He exhibited psychopathic traits, showing little remorse for his actions. His violent behavior escalated in prison, where he attacked staff and fellow inmates.

Robertson's childhood in Florida was marked by abuse and neglect, which contributed to his criminal behavior. He began committing crimes at the age of 12 and continued to escalate his offenses, leading to multiple prison sentences.

In December 2008, Robertson murdered his cellmate, Frank Hart, to achieve his goal of being placed on death row. This act of violence was premeditated and brutal, showcasing his dangerous nature.

Ultimately, Robertson was sentenced to death in 2012, fulfilling his desire to escape the harsh conditions of close management in prison. His case highlights the complexities of violent offenders and the challenges of rehabilitation.

TLDR

James Robertson's violent prison history culminates in a cellmate's murder, leading to his death sentence.

Episode

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

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
    Biggest twist
  • 85
    Most intense
  • 85
    Most unpredictable

Episode Highlights

  • The Dangerous Mind of James Robertson
    Robertson's psychopathy and violent tendencies make him one of the most feared inmates.
    “He had very little remorse and very little empathy”
    @ 00m 43s
    April 12, 2024
  • A Chilling Confrontation
    Robertson's threat to his cellmate reveals his violent nature.
    “I can tie you up and torture you or I can kill you”
    @ 01m 32s
    April 12, 2024
  • James Robertson: A Life of Crime
    From a troubled childhood to a life sentence, James Robertson's journey is chilling.
    “He started at a young age and it just went from bad to worse”
    @ 01m 43s
    April 12, 2024
  • The Brutality of Prison Life
    Charlotte Correctional Institute is described as hellish, filled with violence and despair.
    “The smell, the inmates constantly masturbated, they were shouting...”
    @ 02m 41s
    April 12, 2024
  • The Descent into Madness
    Robertson's long history of violence leads to a life sentence.
    “Criminal activity became a norm for him”
    @ 17m 52s
    April 12, 2024
  • James Robertson's Deadly Plan
    James Robertson murdered his cellmate to escape close management and reach death row.
    “He was going to kill him on December 10th 2008.”
    @ 25m 29s
    April 12, 2024
  • Facing the Death Penalty
    Robertson was sentenced to death after a long history of violence and manipulation.
    “James Robertson was now facing a murder conviction.”
    @ 27m 43s
    April 12, 2024
  • The Dangerous Inmate
    Robertson is considered one of the most dangerous inmates in the U.S. prison system.
    “He’s going to be a danger to inmates, staff, and correction officers.”
    @ 42m 56s
    April 12, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • It was the closest thing to being in Hell.
    Begging for Death Row: James Robertson | World’s Most Evil Prisoners
  • What does he have to lose?
    Begging for Death Row: James Robertson | World’s Most Evil Prisoners
  • I hate it here, I want to be on the row.
    Begging for Death Row: James Robertson | World’s Most Evil Prisoners
  • I think Robertson wanted to die and maybe I'm wrong but...
    Begging for Death Row: James Robertson | World’s Most Evil Prisoners
  • James Robertson had finally got his wish and is now on death row.
    Begging for Death Row: James Robertson | World’s Most Evil Prisoners
  • He made that choice no one else did.
    Begging for Death Row: James Robertson | World’s Most Evil Prisoners

Key Moments

  • Psychopathy Revealed00:43
  • Prison Assault04:00
  • James's Early Crimes06:47
  • Desire for Death Row24:10
  • Cellmate Murder26:20
  • Death Row Desire28:01
  • Sentencing Day41:12
  • Final Wish Fulfilled42:15

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown