James Robertson, a 53 year old inmate in Florida, is currently awaiting death by lethal injection or electrocution. James was originally incarcerated for a minor theft charge in 1980, but his sentence kept getting extended due to multiple assault charges while being incarcerated. Eventually, he was facing a 100 year total sentence due to all of his fights. Between a long sentence and constantly being put in solitary confinement, he decided that death row was his best option for him.
In Netflix's new documentary I am a Killer, James says that he was unfairly targeted by the prison officers. He claims that they "just put somebody in the cell and would use any excuse to keep them in there." While in solitary, James spent 23 hours a day locked up, and this is where he decided enough was enough. He couldn't handle the little freedoms he had being taken away from him, and he didn't like all the rules that were given to him. He had heard of the "glamorous" life on death row, which included a TV, better meals, and less rules. James decided that he was going to go ahead and kill somebody in order to change his conditions.
In December of 2008, James killed his elder roommate Fran Hart while the guards were doing their rounds. After the guards passed their cell for the first inspection, James knew he had 25 minutes to put his plan into action, before the next guard came by. James strangled Frank with a makeshift weapon in a matter of minutes. When James was evaluated, the doctors found that James committed the act willfully. That fact is never disputed because James will willingly tell you he planned on doing it. When being interviewed for the documentary, James said " It was premeditated all the way. I don't feel bad about it."
James knew that if he murdered someone, he would end up on death row and would receive all the "benefits" that came along with it. He murdered his cellmate just too achieve his goal, and abused the system to fit his personal needs. Death row is not a place for inmates who get tired of their life in jail. Yes solitary confinement is hard to live in, but had he followed the rules given to him and gotten in less fights, he wouldn't of ended up there as often as he had. Although Hart was in prison for his own reasons, that doesn't mean he deserved to serve as a pawn for James to get in a cushy living environment. James abused the system to escape solitary and all the rules that came along with it.
James is currently waiting to be executed, but until they he enjoys privileges such as TV. He is not nervous to be executed. In the Netflix documentary he says, "I'd much rather have a needle stuck in me than be electrocuted but I could go either way. You read how it's 'inhumane' but that's a load of bulls**t. You don't feel anything." If you want to know more about his story, you can hear it in the first episode of I am a Killer currently on Netflix.
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