Kansas Supreme Court upholds death sentence for serial killer John E. Robinson Sr.

John E. Robinson Sr., the Olathe man convicted of killing eight women between 1984 and 2000, remains on death row in Kansas after the state’s top court upheld his death penalty conviction.

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death sentence of serial killer John E. Robinson Sr. but threw out one of his two capital murder convictions.

The court found that in showing that Robinson killed more than one person as part of the same common scheme, Johnson County prosecutors used the same killings to support each of the capital murder charges.

That created a situation where Robinson was unconstitutionally tried twice for the same crime, the court found in its 415-page decision.

For the same reason, the court also dismissed Robinson’s first-degree murder conviction involving a third victim killed before Kansas reinstated the death penalty in 1994. That victim’s death was one of those used to support the capital murder charges.

Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe, who took office after the case was tried, said Friday he was pleased with the decision.

“This was one of the most infamous cases ever heard in Johnson County or the state of Kansas,” Howe said.

And while it was only the first step in the typically lengthy appeals process in death penalty cases, Howe said he was hopeful that the process would proceed swiftly “so justice can finally be brought for all of Robinson’s victims.”

A Johnson County jury found Robinson, now 71, guilty in 2002 of two counts of capital murder in the deaths of two women whose bodies were found in 2000 stuffed inside barrels on property he owned in Linn County.

The jury also found him guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a Kansas City woman who disappeared in 1985 with her infant daughter.

Authorities later learned that Robinson had given the baby to his brother and sister-in-law, who believed he had arranged a legitimate adoption for them.

Friday’s ruling does not affect Robinson’s convictions in Cass County, Mo., where he pleaded guilty to killing five other women. Three of those victims were found inside barrels in a Raymore storage locker. He was sentenced to life in prison for those crimes.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster handled those cases when he was Call County prosecutor.

“John E. Robinson committed the worst serial homicides in Kansas City history,” Koster said Friday. “I’m gratified the Kansas Supreme Court today upheld his well-deserved death sentence.”

In Friday’s opinion, written by Justice Caleb Stegall, the Supreme Court found that a number of errors were made during the trial, but they did not prevent Robinson from receiving a fair trial.

The court also praised former Johnson County District Judge John Anderson III for his handling of the complex case.

Justice Lee Johnson penned the sole dissent to the court’s decision, and said he would have also dismissed the remaining capital charge. Johnson also wrote that he believes the death penalty violates the Kansas Constitution.

Robinson’s Johnson County trial was the longest criminal trial in Kansas history and involved salacious details about the sadistic sexual lifestyle he shared with some of his victims.

Two of those women, Suzette Trouten, 27, of Michigan, and Izabela Lewicka, 21, of Indiana, moved to the Kansas City area after exchanging online communications with Robinson.

A missing person report filed by Trouten’s family in 2000 led to the discovery of their bodies on Robinson’s Linn County property and the subsequent investigation that led to the discovery of three other bodies in Raymore.

Investigators also linked Robinson to three other women who disappeared in the 1980s and never were found.

One of them, Lisa Stasi, last was seen by her family with Robinson in 1985.

The investigation led police to the Chicago area, where they discovered that Robinson’s 15-year-old adopted niece was actually Stasi’s daughter.

Evidence at his trial showed that Robinson had forged documents to convince his brother and sister-in-law that their adoption of the baby was arranged by an attorney. He even charged them $5,000 to pay for the adoption.

After the discovery of the bodies in Linn County, investigators searched a storage locker rented by Robinson in Raymore.

One of the three victims found there, 45-year-old Sheila Faith, had moved to the Kansas City area with her 15-year-old disabled daughter to be with Robinson after meeting him online. The body of Debbie Faith also was found in the storage locker. Robinson had continued to collect Social Security checks mailed to them years after their deaths.

The other Raymore victim was Beverly Bonner, 49, who left her husband for Robinson after meeting him in a Missouri prison where she worked and he had served a sentence for previous financial fraud crimes.

After his Johnson County case was completed, Robinson pleaded guilty to the Cass County killings. He also admitted to killing 19-year-old Paula Godfrey and Catherine Clampitt, 27, both of whom were never found after they disappeared in the 1980s. In exchange for those guilty pleas, Missouri prosecutors agreed to not seek a death sentence. Robinson was sentenced to life in prison.

When arrested in 2000, Robinson was married and was a father and grandfather, living in an Olathe mobile home community managed by his wife. His family was unaware of his nefarious criminal activity, investigators determined.

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Kansas Supreme Court upholds death sentence for serial killer John E. Robinson Sr.."