Death penalty defendant complains of Statesman coverage

Death penalty defendant complains of Statesman coverage


Got a letter from Milton Dwayne Gobert this week. He's the Travis County capital murder defendant facing the death penalty whose case will be heard soon by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Gobert, 35, didn't like the Statesman coverage (read it here) of the announcement by the state's highest court that it granted discretionary review in the case.

"When you write about me, write the whole truth and not half truth and implied guilt toward me," wrote Gobert in opening his 4-page letter.

Gobert has been locked up in the Travis County jail since 2003, when he was arrested and charged with stabbing his ex-girlfriend's friend, 30-year-old Mel Cotton, in North Austin. Gobert was also accused of stabbing Cotton’s then 5-year-old son, who survived.

His case has been held up on appeals centered around whether a confession prosecutors say he gave to Austin police should be allowed at trial.

State District Judge Bob Perkins, the trial judge, ruled it should not be allowed because Austin homicide detectives continued to question him after Gobert invoked his right to an attorney. The 3rd Court of Appeals agreed with Perkins, and then reversed course and ruled Gobert’s statement was lawfully obtained.

Most of Gobert's letter quoted from 3rd Court Justice Jan Patterson’s dissenting opinion in the case.

"Police deceived me of why I was there to be questioned and there (sic) manner of questioning," Gobert wrote. "Your facts were wrong, and implying guilt on me through innuendo were (sic) wrong; so if you want to print something print the truth."

(source: Austin American-Statesman)