BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — In appealing his murder conviction, Robert Pernell Roberts argued the only evidence he had a gun the night corrections counselor Benny Alcala was shot and killed was the testimony of his co-defendant, who he claimed lied.
A panel of the Fifth District Court of Appeal disagreed, saying “plenty of evidence” — including Roberts’ own words — linked him to the gun.
“Independent evidence supported the inference defendant had sent a text message saying he had just killed someone and to ‘watch the news’ within hours after a man was shot to death with a gun in an area defendant was seen on surveillance footage minutes before,” Associate Justice Rosendo Peña Jr. wrote in a ruling issued Tuesday…