By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Related: Ohio death row inmate on dies at hospital
HOUSTON -- A convicted murderer awaiting execution killed himself in his cell at a psychiatric center just three days after another condemned man on Texas’ death row did the same, prison officials said Monday.
William Robinson, 49, used a sheet to hang himself from a vent, Texas Department Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.
Only eight other condemned killers have committed suicide since death row reopened in 1974, including Jesus Flores, who killed himself Jan. 29.
Robinson, who was sentenced to death for a 1985 murder, had been held at the Jester IV psychiatric facility in Richmond since September and had spent time there periodically throughout his years on death row, Lyons said.
Officers found Robinson hanging at about 5 a.m., Lyons said. They cut the sheet and performed CPR; he was taken to a hospital alive but unresponsive and was put on life support.
Robinson’s mother decided to cut off life support after doctors said he was most likely brain dead, Lyons said.
Lyons said privacy laws prevented her from discussing Robinson’s medical records, but she said he did injure himself with a razor in 2006.
Michael Charlton, Robinson’s former attorney, said Robinson had paranoid schizophrenia and had repeatedly attempted suicide.
''Despite years of that history, to leave William unsupervised and not on a suicide watch to me, it’s just appalling,’' Charlton said.
Lyons said officers at Jester IV routinely check on inmates every 15 minutes.
It took a jury just 11 minutes to convict Robinson of capital murder for the shooting death of 26-year-old Steven Michael Creasey in a Houston apartment complex.
According to prosecutors, Robinson and two other men robbed Creasey and a female friend, then tried to abduct the woman. Creasey was shot between the eyes when he tried to help her.
The woman told police she was raped for hours by all three men before she was released.
Prosecutors said Robinson had just gotten out of prison after serving seven years for robbery when Creasey was murdered. The killing was part of a crime spree that also included a carjacking and the robbery of three men, a shoe store, and a bus driver.
Robinson admitted to raping the woman but said his co-defendent killed Creasey. In state and federal appeals that were pending when he died, attorneys for Robinson claimed he was mentally retarded and was not sufficiently represented his trial.