Killer eligible to have parole
Death sentence reduced because of mental ruling
Noe Santana, whose 20-year-old cousin was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 1991, did not mince words when he had the chance Tuesday to talk to the killer.
“When you’re looking at yourself in the mirror, I hope you take that razor you shave your face with, shave your head with, and cut across your throat,” Santana shouted at him in the courtroom. “There’s nothing left for you in this life.”
Santana was in court to see 44-year-old Robert James Campbell’s death sentence reduced to life in prison after he was declared intellectually disabled.
Before he was sentenced, Campbell apologized to the family and wished them peace.
“I would just like to offer my deepest and sincerest apologies for all I’ve hurt,” he said softly.
Campbell was convicted in 1992 of capital murder in the death of Alejandra Rendon, a bank teller he abducted while she was pumping gas.
He spent 25 years on death row, survived an execution day and is now eligible for parole after mental health professionals determined he is too disabled to be executed, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently outlawed the execution of mentally disabled people, sending Campbell’s case back to Harris County for evaluation. A prosecution expert declared him mentally disabled.
Wearing the yellow jail uniform typically reserved for high-profile inmates, he appeared before Visiting Judge Michael Wilkerson, who sentenced him to life in prison.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said the
“There’s nothing left for you in this life.” Noe Santana, cousin of murder victim, to her killer
law in 1991 did not allow for the option of life without parole, so he will be eligible for parole.
“Times have changed when it comes to people with mental disabilities,” Ogg said. “It was with a heavy heart that our expert came back and agreed with the defense that Campbell is intellectually disabled so we were forced to withdraw our plan to seek the death penalty.”
Defense attorney Rob Owen, of Northwestern University School of Law, has in the past extended his condolences to the victim’s family on behalf of the defense team, which included Burke Butler and Callie Heller of the Powell Project and Raoul Schonemann of the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law.
“Robert expressed his remorse for his actions, apologized to everyone he had hurt, and said he would continue to pray that his victims find peace,” Owen said Tuesday in an emailed statement. “We likewise extend our sympathy to the victims for the terrible loss they have suffered.”
Ogg said her office will protest all of Campbell’s future parole hearings to remind officials of the brutality of his crime.
“We can successfully fight his parole and keep Mr. Campbell behind bars,” she said. “He was a person who was a predator in our society.”
Victim’s advocate Andy Kahan said Campbell will likely go before the parole board within six months. He said Rendon’s family will ask the board to deny parole and put Campbell on a special list that would prevent him from going before the board again for at least 10 years.
If he is classified that way, he would only get parole hearings every decade, a comforting thought for Rendon’s family.
“Your last meal should be behind bars,” Santana told Campbell.