Blood Ambush

by Sheila Johnson

  Barbara’s psychiatric problems were serious, but were undoubtedly exacerbated by her equally serious physical condition. A year prior to Darlene’s murder, in April 2005, Barbara had been referred to, and had sought treatment at, a sports medicine and orthopedic surgery center in Atlanta for pain and weakness of her left forearm as a result of the 2004 auto accident in which she had fractured her left forearm and wrist. The fracture did not mend, and surgery to knit the broken bones had followed on November 30, 2004. After removal of the surgical hardware, Barbara spent five additional months in a cast.

  As a result of all those injuries, surgeries, and lingering problems, Barbara reported pain that continually woke her up at night. There was nagging constant pain in her left arm and wrist, she said, with weakness and limitations to her wrist motion.

  Her neurologic exam had confirmed that she was experiencing decreased muscle strength in her left forearm musculature, wrist, and decreased grip strength. There were significant limitations in her wrist motion, the examining physicians stated, and there was atrophy noted in the muscles of her left forearm and left hand. These problems alone were enough to seriously interfere with Barbara’s ability to get a restorative night’s sleep, but the addition of the continual noise, shouting, and the 24-7 blaring of the television made resting at night all but impossible.

  The physician had reported to Barbara that there was evidence of left median nerve entrapment in the elbow, and exploratory surgery might be needed, and also reported his findings to her treating surgeon and to the doctor who had originally referred her to the clinic for examination. But there had been no opportunity for the surgery before Barbara was arrested, so the muscle, joint, and nerve problems remained.

  There was no question that these problems, coupled with the mental and emotional distress Barbara was exhibiting and the continuing adjustments to her medication, were a source of her deteriorating psychological state. Clearly, Barbara had been in genuine need of the continuance of her arraignment in order to have time for a meeting with her psychotherapist.

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  As Barbara’s jail time dragged on and she remained, uncomfortable and disgruntled, in the DeKalb County, Alabama, Jail, she continued to write to attorney Rodney Stallings on practically a daily basis begging, pleading, then demanding that he travel to Fort Payne on a frequent, regular basis and visit her. He was her only contact with the outside world, her only visitor other than doctors, and she desperately wanted to see someone other than her fellow inmates and the DeKalb County jailers. And all the while, even though Barbara felt forgotten, ignored, and neglected, the legal maneuvering in her case continued.

  Barbara was even more unhappy and dissatisfied than ever, and in frustration she frequently clashed with the jail staff. As a result of one dustup with the jailers, she received two disciplinary charges in the same day. On one occasion she was written up for using profanity and making derogatory remarks to a staff member; later that same day, she was again written up, this time for disobeying the jail staff and once again making profane remarks. Things were not going at all well for Barbara in the DeKalb County Jail.

  On May 29, 2007, Stallings filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus addressing Judge Randall Cole, District Attorney Mike O’Dell, Cherokee County sheriff Jeff Shaver, and DeKalb County sheriff Jimmy Harris.

  Stallings stated in his petition that Barbara was currently being restrained under an arrest warrant issued as a result of her indictment by the Cherokee County grand jury for murder during robbery and two counts of murder during kidnapping.

  She was being held in solitary confinement, he said, at the DeKalb County Jail in Fort Payne, Alabama.

  Stallings said that Barbara was receiving one hour per day to bathe and to make telephone calls, but she was allowed no contact with other persons similarly situated in the facility.

  As a result of Barbara’s indictment for capital murder, Stallings said, she retained his services to represent her in the charge, and Stallings’s office was located in Cherokee County, Centre, Alabama.

  Barbara, he said, believed he could better represent her if her detention location was correctly applied in the county where she was charged, Cherokee County, Alabama, by allowing more time to prepare for her defense.

  Stallings told the court that Barbara suffered from both physical and mental disease and required constant medications, which she claimed were not being administered correctly in the DeKalb County Jail. She was, he said, in need of medical treatment and could not receive the proper treatment while being incarcerated.

  Stallings also told the court that Barbara was in need of mental/emotional and psychological treatment and, likewise, could not receive the proper treatment for those conditions while she was incarcerated. She was, he said, being held in an undue, cruel, and unusual punishment, with respect to her conditions and arrangements.

  Stallings pointed out that Barbara was on bond after her arrest and reported to court—as ordered, reported her intentions to travel to her attorney’s office—as ordered, and while at liberty, she traveled outside the state and freely and voluntarily returned. She lacked the financial resources to flee the country and had surrendered her passport to the court.

  The petition then requested that the court grant Barbara’s petition for habeas corpus or to alternatively transport her to the Cherokee County facility while awaiting trial.

  The following day, on May 30, the state’s response to the petition was filed by Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Robert “Bob” F. Johnston Jr., and made the following points: Defendants are required to file any petition for a writ of habeas corpus to the county in which they are detained. Defendants are required to file any petition for a writ of habeas corpus as a separate civil action and pay the appropriate fee (or a request to proceed in forma pauperis).

  Johnston said that Barbara had met none of those requirements, since her petition had been filed in Cherokee County in a criminal action, not in DeKalb County in a civil action, and had not otherwise followed the procedure required by Alabama law. The state objected, he said.

  That being considered, Johnston said, the state requested that the defendant’s petition be summarily denied.

  In June of 2007, Barbara had written a long, rambling letter to Judges Randall Cole and David Rains asking for their help in dealing with her attorney Steve Lanier. She was in the process of revoking his power of attorney and asking for the return of her retainer. In her letter she also took the opportunity to make several other allegations concerning the conditions of the DeKalb County Jail and the performance of its staff. From the composition of her letter, her mental and emotional condition seemed to have improved somewhat since the time of her initial arrest. She still was slightly repetitious, however, and jumped from one subject to another frequently.

  Barbara claimed that Lanier should have returned funds of hers that she alleged should not have been used, and she said he would not return any calls. Then she said that she was being held in a twenty-inmate pod in which she was the only woman, and could not go downstairs to shower without having to listen to the vulgar comments of the men in the pod.

  Barbara also complained about the return of her bond money to Robert John Schiess, then said that Steve Lanier was not legally an Alabamian lawyer, and said he was supposed to have been at the Atlanta airport to meet her and Schiess when they arrived and were arrested.

  I strongly feel if he would have been there at the airport in Atlanta as he promised, everything would be totally different, but he did not, she wrote.

  Barbara asked the judges to help her in any way they could, as soon as possible, to deal with Lanier. Then she claimed she and attorney Rodney Stallings did not get sufficient time to work on discovery because his time at the jail kept being cut short due to the jail staff claiming they were shorthanded. She said the prosecution did not want her back at Centre, at the Cherokee County Jail, and asked, How do I help my case? It seems so slow, and time keeps running.

 
Barbara wanted to know how she could see a psychiatrist every two weeks as she did before, at $1,000 an hour, whereas if she was out on bail, her insurance would pay for it. And how could she get orthopedic workups with no X-ray equipment? She was, she wrote, living in a pod of just messy vulgar men with loud TV 24-7, never silence. She still had not gotten a pillow for her neck, she claimed.

  A list of other problems followed: not getting meds for neck, upper back, and arms, infected toe, both legs swollen, medical staff was a joke, the whole place was a joke. Regarding jail staff, the best have quit. Over half the officers are new. It’s a joke.

  Barbara closed her letter by saying, I am being as honest as possible. I will not make it if I spend most of my time staring into space.

  With his customary polite formality, Judge Randall Cole acknowledged receipt of her letter, and told her he was providing copies to Stallings and to District Attorney Mike O’Dell. The judge told Barbara she had the option of filing a complaint with the Alabama State Bar and the Georgia State Bar. He provided her the appropriate names and addresses for both organizations in order for her to contact them directly.

  He ended his reply by saying, I am unable at this time to address other issues set forth in your letter.

  Barbara’s stay at the DeKalb County Jail was clearly wearing on the nerves of everyone involved, and she fervently hoped, as did the jail staff, that she would soon be transferred back to Cherokee County. On June 20, 2007, both she and the DeKalb County Jail staff received some welcome news: Judge Randall Cole had granted at least part of the relief sought by her petition, and she would soon be returning to the Cherokee County Jail.

  Judge Cole’s order stated that Barbara had filed a petition that was designated as a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which was set for hearing on June 18, 2007, with Barbara, Rodney Stallings, and the deputy district attorney present.

  The state had filed a response to the petition and argued at the hearing that the petition was filed in the wrong county and that it should have been filed as a civil action with payment of a filing fee. The state also objected to the relief sought in the petition.

  Judge Rains said that the relief sought by the petition appeared to be that the defendant should be allowed to make bond, and if not, her detention should be moved from the DeKalb County Jail to the Cherokee County Jail.

  Habeas corpus, the judge said, was generally used to test the legality of a person’s incarceration, and he said that Barbara had failed to provide sufficient proof that she was being illegally held. The contention of habeas corpus, he said, would not be allowed, and he instead considered the merits of her request as if it were part of a general motion or petition.

  Concerning her request for bail, Judge Rains denied the request for reasons he had stated in a previous order of the court. As to her request that her detention be moved from the DeKalb County Jail to the Cherokee County Jail, Barbara claimed that incarceration in the DeKalb County Jail complicated her attorney’s ability to work with her in preparing her defense, given the fact that his office was in Centre, Alabama. The district attorney’s response to this request was that the court previously had permitted the sheriff of Cherokee County to make the decision as to where Barbara was incarcerated.

  Barbara had been charged with a capital offense, the judge said. Therefore, it was essential that her counsel be permitted to consult with her, as was necessary, to prepare her defense. Without sufficient good cause showing why Barbara should be detained outside Cherokee County, Judge Rains ordered that her detention would be moved from the DeKalb County Jail to the Cherokee County Jail.

  Other relief that had been requested, he said, was denied.

  Barbara could hardly wait to climb into the back of a patrol car to make the short thirty-minute ride between the two jails. Now, she hoped, she would be seeing more of her attorney and could also be visited again by some of the ladies who worked for the jail ministries of churches in Cherokee County. She had been comforted by their visits during her previous stay in the Cherokee County Jail and looked forward to seeing them again. Now she would, at least, have the occasional company of someone other than “messy, vulgar men.”

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  On August 15, 2007, at 9:00 A.M., the parties in the civil suit and their attorneys, along with a court reporter and videographer, gathered at the Cherokee County Jail to take Barbara’s deposition.

  Barbara was first questioned by Vernon’s attorney, Andy Davis. He began by confirming Barbara’s correct name, date of birth, Social Security number, current address at the Cherokee County Jail, previous addresses in Conyers and Rome, Georgia, her educational background, and her employment history.

  He then moved on to ask Barbara where she had been born, what her maiden name was, and whether she had any relatives in the northwest Georgia area. He asked if she had any children, and if she had ever been involved in any lawsuits other than a divorce. Barbara gave information on how long she and Vernon had been married, who their divorce attorneys were, and whether or not she had ever been arrested for anything previously.

  The only prior arrest Barbara had to report was for the obstruction of officer charge, which stemmed from the bizarre confrontation she and Schiess had with the GSP officer on November 10, 2005, in Cartersville, Georgia. She could not remember whether the year had been 2006 or 2005; attorney Rodney Stallings told her, “Just answer the best you can. If you don’t know—”

  “I don’t remember, sir,” Barbara told Davis.

  “And was anyone else arrested with you at that time?”

  Barbara told Davis that Schiess had been arrested along with her, and she said that the charges, as far as she knew, were for a DUI and an open bottle of liquor, and were still pending.

  Davis asked Barbara if she had married Vernon on August 31, 1984, in Port Arthur, Texas, and if they had been married for seventeen years without having any children. That was correct, she confirmed. Then Davis asked if she had lived with Schiess, which she also confirmed.

  Then Davis moved on to the subject of Darlene Roberts, asking if she had known Darlene while Darlene was working at Temple-Inland, prior to Darlene’s marriage to Vernon. Barbara told him that she had known Darlene since 2001, meeting her following the divorce when “somehow, one way or another, we both ended up at Vernon’s house at the same time. I don’t remember exactly what the deal was.”

  When Davis asked Barbara if she had ever written Darlene any letters or e-mails, Stallings interrupted, asking if he could have a moment off the record with his client.

  When the questioning resumed, Davis asked again about the letters or e-mails, and Barbara responded, “Take the Fifth.”

  “You’re asserting your privilege, Fifth Amendment privilege, is that correct?” Davis asked.

  “Just to clarify the record,” said Stallings, “she’s asserting her privilege under the Fifth Amendment, believing that those are part of the investigation that’s currently ongoing.”

  Barbara was willing to answer Davis when he asked if she had ever received any letters or e-mails from Darlene, which she said she had not. Then Davis moved on.

  “You didn’t like Darlene Roberts, did you?”

  Stallings immediately broke in.

  “She’s going to assert her Fifth Amendment. Would you rather her to say that or is it okay if I say that?”

  “I’d rather her say it,” Davis responded. “I think that’s appropriate.”

  “I plead my Fifth, sir,” Barbara said.

  “Assert,” Stallings corrected her.

  “Assert my Fifth Amendment,” Barbara restated.

  “You had conflicts with Darlene Roberts, didn’t you?”

  “Same,” Stallings prompted.

  “Assert my Fifth Amendment right,” said Barbara.

  “You threatened Darlene Roberts prior to her death, didn’t you?”

  “No, sir.”

  “You threatened Vernon Roberts prior to the death of Darlene Roberts, didn’t you?” Davis asked.


  “Assert the Fifth Amendment right,” Barbara answered.

  Davis moved on to a series of questions Barbara had no problems answering, concerning when and how she had met Schiess, when they began dating and living together, how Barbara had gotten her volunteer job at Rockdale County Hospital, which of Schiess’s relatives she had met and where they lived, who Barbara’s relatives were and where they lived, when she had last visited Texas prior to her mother’s funeral, and whether Schiess had accompanied her.

  Davis asked Barbara if she was on any medications that day, and she said yes. When he asked what the medications were, she said, “I’ll be honest with you. I really don’t even know. They took me off the medications I was on and put me on what they wanted me on, so I have no idea what they are.”

  “You’re talking about the medical staff here? And you’re not sure what you’re taking?”

  “No, sir. I’m not on anything I originally came in on.”

  Davis wanted to know if Barbara was able to hear him and understand his questions, or if Barbara was having any memory lapses.

  Barbara said that probably it would be the lack of her original medications, not the taking of her current ones, that would cause problems, but at that time they were not affecting her ability to respond to his questions.

  Davis asked if Barbara had ever met Schiess’s ex-wife, and she said no. He asked if Schiess had ever told her about any other homes he had other than the apartment in Conyers, any office buildings he had an interest in, and if they had opened any joint bank accounts. She answered that he had set up a checking account that he deposited money in for her as she needed it. Then Davis asked if they had any brokerage accounts or investments together, and if Barbara was aware of any brokerage representatives that Schiess used during the time the two were dating.