22 January 2010 :

Craighead County Circuit Court judge David Burnett has overturned the death penalty of Robert Robbins and sentenced him to life in prison. Judge Burnett ruled that Robbins' request for post-conviction relief was without merit but indicated his own misgivings about the sentence. Robbins, now 30, was 18 when he received the death sentence. "However, the court is persuaded that the interest of justice would warrant a reduction of the death sentence to a sentence of life without the possibility of parole due to the age of the defendant and the lack of mitigation in the sentencing phase of the trial," Burnett wrote in his order. Robbins was convicted of killing former girlfriend Bethany White, 19, on Nov. 4, 1997. He had confessed,  and said he wanted to die for what he did. A jury imposed the death penalty on June 17, 1998. He refused to appeal the conviction, and his execution date was set for April 12, 1999. Bobby Jean Miller, Robbins' mother, intervened in her son's case, and the Arkansas Supreme Court stayed the execution. As a result of the Robbins case, the state now requires automatic appeals of all death sentences. Robbins then had a change of heart and decided to fight the death sentence.