Rob Will is 41 years old and has been on death row awaiting execution since 2001 for a crime he did not commit. He is an artist, poet, published writer and a deeply spiritual man, with an integrated practice of yoga and meditation.
Despite the depravity of inhumane conditions he has endured (solitary confinement 23 hours/day in a 6 x 10 foot cell without access to a computer, telephone or television), Rob continues to have a positive outlook on life and his eventual release.
During this very crucial time in Rob's legal process, we are seeking to raise funds for Rob's defense to save his life.
100% of your donations will go towards that one goal.
Please continue reading for more information about Rob's case and his innocence. We sincerely hope you consider donating. Every dollar counts to save an innocent man's life from the hell of death row.
Rob was arrested in 2000 for Capital Murder of a Houston Sheriff’s deputy despite police radio logs confirming he was handcuffed and “in custody” at the time of the shooting.
No forensic evidence or eye-witnesses support Rob being the shooter.
The actual shooter - the son of a prominent Houston police officer - was charged only with auto theft despite that:
- He shot Rob in the hand at the time of the killing
- He confessed to five different witnesses that he murdered the deputy
- He bleached all of his bloody clothes before providing them to the police
- He tried to put a hit on Rob to stop him from talking. (These jail house “hit” records were not disclosed to the defense at trial).
At trial, Rob was provided with inexperienced public defenders while prosecuted by Houston’s highest-ranking district attorney. The trial included issues with:
- Defense witness intimidation
- Evidence being withheld from the defense
- Juror misconduct
- A “blue wall” of police presence in the room. A Houston police department newsletter urged as many officers as possible to attend the trial.
- The prosecutor compared Rob to the 9/11 terrorists
Rob’s appeals have been ridden with issues including being appointed a direct appeal lawyer suffering from Parkinson’s disease; who copied and pasted Rob’s appeal directly from that of a Texas serial killer (typos included). It was, of course, denied.
Unfortunately, due to the appeal restrictions imposed by the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), the vast majority of issues within Rob’s wrongful conviction needed to have been raised on earlier appeal. Due to ineffective counsel, this did not happen.
A US District Court Judge stated in 2012:
“On top of considerable evidence supporting Will’s innocence and the important errors in the trial court, there must also be addressed the absence of eye-witness testimony or strongly probative evidence. Only circumstantial evidence supports Will’s conviction and death sentence.”
He also stated, in Rob’s most recent appeal denial in 2018:
“This Court has repeatedly expressed deep concern for the factually complex insinuations that Will may be innocent of the crime for which he faces a death sentence. The Court is particularly sensitive to the absence of any direct evidence of Will’s guilt, and the number of witnesses who aver that another man confessed to the underlying murder”
Read more about Rob's case at: www.freerobwill.org
You can also help by writing to the Texas State Governor and the Texas State Attorney General:
Texas State Governor
Greg Abbott
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box
12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428
(512)
463-2000
Twitter: @GregAbbott_TX
Facebook: @TexansForAbbott
Texas Attorney General
Ken Paxton
Office of the Attorney General
PO Box
12548
Austin, TX 78711-2548
(512) 463-2100
communications@oag.texas.gov
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info@freerobwill.org
