Judge finds 'Wild Bill' guilty of murdering his girlfriend, sentencing to start Thursday

TAVARES — “Wild Bill” Roberts is guilty of first-degree premeditated murder in the slaying of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Hellstrom, Circuit Judge G. Richard Singeltary ruled Wednesday.

It was not a big surprise. The evidence was stacked against him, including a security video tape showing the man with a reputation of being a longtime rabble-rouser dragging her body out of his camper in December 2017.

Nor was his reaction a surprise to the day’s proceedings. He made an obscene gesture with his finger to a Daily Commercial photographer as he was being led to the defense table.

The sentencing phase of Roberts' trial starts Thursday, and Roberts could get either life in prison or the death penalty.

Prosecutors will present aggravator evidence, circumstances that may lend themselves to a harsher punishment, in an effort to prove the crime was heinous, atrocious and cruel, and that he has a violent criminal past.

From Tuesday: 'Wild Bill' lawyer wants off the case; her client shuns efforts to keep him off death row

More:Capital murder trial of 'Wild Bill' Roberts continues in Lake County

Last week's coverage:'Wild Bill' waives his right to jury trial, won't leave his cell, says courtroom is 'cold'

'We have had a lot of disagreements'

Roberts, who once wanted to represent himself and waived his right to a jury trial, told the judge he wants to be sentenced to death and does not want his defense attorneys to present any mitigating evidence.

That decision forced the judge and his attorneys by law to pose a series of questions to make sure Roberts understood what he was asking for.

“How much clearer can I be these idiots?” he turned and asked his attorney Brenda Smith.

His other attorney, Candace Hawthorne, told the judge Monday she wanted to withdraw from the case.

“I disagree with my client; we have had a lot of disagreements,” she said Wednesday.

She also said she would stick it out.

Hawthorne listed a series of medical records, some friends willing to speak on his behalf and share recordings of him talking to his beloved dog, Trouble, from the jail as mitigators, but Roberts was having none of it. He also refused twice to speak to a defense psychologist.

Roberts is estranged from his family. The only one he was close to was his mother, and defense experts tried to talk to her four years ago as she was dying of cancer, Hawthorne said.

“I done told them four years ago to leave them people alone,” Roberts said.

Mitigation investigators apparently also wanted to bring up his childhood.

“If my dad told me to mow the lawn, and I ripped the chord out so it wouldn’t run I deserved to have my ass beat,” he said. “I probably didn’t get enough ass whippings."

A look at Roberts' physical health

Included in the required questions asked by Smith and the judge were queries about his health. He had been involved in some serious auto and motorcycle accidents.

Once, he and Hellstrom had been drinking all day at a saloon. They went outside at 3 a.m., got on his motorcycle and took off, getting up to 80 mph, but he forgot to raise the kickstand.

“I was drunk,” Roberts said. “I flipped the bike three times.”

It caused severe injuries to his ankle. He was wearing a helmet, which he said could be folded after the accident.

“I never went to the hospital,” Roberts said.

Another time he fell and hit his head against a jail door. He insisted that the injuries did not affect his ability to think or make decisions.

Roberts also gave some insight as to why he wanted to go to death row instead of general population.

“You’d better have your boots laced tight,” he said.

Prisoners are armed with homemade knives and eager to use them, Roberts explained. Death row inmates are isolated.

He fidgeted some and showed flashes of anger at the proceedings.

“It’s a waste of time,” Roberts said at one point.

“Do you want me to plead no contest?” he asked Smith.

The judge could have appointed a special counsel to gather and present mitigation evidence, but Singeltary said it was clear that Roberts understood what he was asking for.

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: 'Wild Bill' found guilty of murdering his girlfriend in Lake County