Kansas man faces second death sentence

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Finding three missing women who knew convicted killer John E. Robinson Sr. is a priority for the prosecutor handling Robinson's Missouri murder trial.

Cass County prosecutor Chris Koster said he won't even consider dropping the Missouri charges against Robinson, who was sentenced to death in Kansas for the murders of two women. Koster said for legal reasons, he couldn't discuss a possible plea bargain. But he did say: "I am open-minded on the manner in which we end the case."

Robinson, 59, faces capital murder charges in Cass County for the deaths of Beverly Bonner, 49, of Cameron; Sheila Faith, 45; and her paraplegic daughter, Debbie, 16, both formerly of California. Their bodies were found on June 5, 2000, stuffed in barrels in a Raymore, Mo., storage locker rented by Robinson.

He was sentenced to die Tuesday in Kansas for the deaths of Suzette Trouten, 27, of Michigan, and Izabela Lewicka, 21, a former Purdue University student, whose bodies were found on his rural Linn County, Kan. property. Both women were killed after being lured to Kansas by Robinson to engage in sadomasochistic sex.

Johnson County Judge John Anderson III also sentenced Robinson to life in prison for the 1985 death of Lisa Stasi, a 19-year-old whose body was never found.

Robinson was transferred from the Johnson County jail Friday to a Kansas prison where he awaits extradition to Missouri. He has not yet been arraigned on the charges in Cass County, where he also faces the death penalty.

Besides Stasi, other missing women who knew Robinson are Catherine Clampitt, who was 27 years old when she moved from Wichita Falls, Texas, to work for Robinson in 1987, and Paula Godfrey, of Overland Park, Kan., who was 19 and working for Robinson when she disappeared in 1984.

'Can only kill him once'

Robinson's attorney, Missouri public defender Karen Kraft, said she would expect a death penalty case to be "very expensive," but she understands why he faces another trial.

"It's certainly something that is important to them and to society in general, just in terms of being concerned about victims. But you can only kill him once," she said. "With a death sentence in Kansas, it would not seem to be necessary to have him on death row in Missouri."

Koster acknowledged that some Cass County residents have expressed concern about the costs associated with a death penalty trial, but said justice demands the Missouri cases be pursued.

"We're not going to just put them on the shelf and not deal with them," Koster said. "That would just be unprecedented in the legal system."

Johnson County, Kan., prosecutor Paul Morrison said Robinson is "worth extra time and money."

"If there's anybody in the world who deserves to have two death penalties over him, it's John Robinson," Morrison said.

Morrison and Koster also pointed out that having a second death sentence would provide more assurance that Robinson will be executed since many death sentences are overturned on appeal.

Bonner's ex-husband, Dr. William Bonner, of Stockton, Mo., believes it's more likely a death sentence would be carried out in Missouri than in Kansas, where no one has been executed since the death penalty was reinstated there in 1994.

"His chances of being killed over in the state of Kansas are probably slim to none," Bonner said.

Still, he said, he could live with a plea bargain in the Missouri case under one condition: "Only in the circumstances that there are two or three other missing women, and if he would in the plea bargain tell them where the bodies are."

Morrison agreed but wondered if Robinson would be truthful. He also was unsure that the women could found.

"Given the passage of time, I think it would be difficult for him to produce bodies. But you never know."