Execution Report: Robert Coulson

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Coulson was charged with the murders of Robin and Richard Wentworth. He pleaded not guilty and testified at his own trial. A jury found him guilty in June 1994 and sentenced him to death. He had no prior criminal history.

Jared Lee Althaus pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. His sentence was reduced to 10 years for his cooperation with the prosecution of Coulson. He is scheduled to be released in 2003 and declined requests for an interview.

Coulson maintained his innocence from death row. While he initially claimed that Althaus was the murderer, he later claimed that Althaus conspired with police to frame him with planted evidence and false testimony. He pointed out that there was no physical evidence to tie him to the crime scene. He also claimed that the prosecution manufactured evidence against him. This referred to an envelope containing some notes in Otis Coulson's handwriting, referring to a potential business deal with Robert. After finding the envelope at the scene, a policeman put it on Otis's desk to photograph it. The prosecution later testified that the envelope was on the desk when the murders were committed, proving that Otis expected Robert to come over on the day of the murders. Rosenthal, who is now the District Attorney, admitted that this part of their testimony was inaccurate, but said that it was a harmless error.

Coulson also wrote many letters to anti-death-penalty activists, who put them on a web site at http://www.deathrow.at/freebob.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Coulson's verdict and death sentence in October 1996. In November 1998, the district court held an evidentiary hearing on Coulson's habeas corpus claim of prosecutorial misconduct regarding the envelope. The court determined that the moving of the envelope was irrelevant to Coulson's conviction. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed this decision in June 1999, ending his state appeals. All of Coulson's subsequent appeals, which were in federal court, were also denied. He made three requests to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles -- one for a conditional pardon, another for a commutation of his sentence, and another for a reprieve of execution. The board rejected all three of his requests by a 17-0 vote.

In an interview, Coulson said that he made up the alibi about going to the lake house because Althaus convinced him that, after his family members were murdered, he would be a natural suspect and, therefore, needed an alibi that someone else could corroborate. "It was a flat-out lie, and it was the dumbest thing I ever did in my life," he said. Coulson was never observed expressing any sorrow over the deaths of his parents or other family members.

"I'm innocent. I had absolutely nothing to do with my family's murder," Coulson said in his last statement. As the lethal drugs started to take effect, Coulson spotted a former Houston police officer who was involved in the murder investigation and told him, "You planted that evidence, Dale Atchetee. You know it and I know it." He was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 26 June 2002.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's office, Associated Press, Houston Chronicle.