Savage, Racist Murderer Paroled from “Life” Sentence: A David in TN Exclusive Report

By David in TN
Wednesday, December 12, 2018 at 4:00:00 P.M. EST

On October 3, 1963, in a small Hollywood, California apartment, Thora Rose lay dead, savagely beaten in her own apartment. It took 30 years to bring the killer, one Vernon Robinson, to trial.

Robinson had the support of his church in South Central Los Angeles, and its pastor, a prominent citizen in Los Angeles. CBS News filmed the entire trial, thinking it would make a great 60 Minutes episode-innocent black man messed up by a mean prosecutor. The legendary Morley Safer hosted the episode, and CBS hoped/expected Robinson to be acquitted.

The trial took place in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, in October, 1993, exactly 30 years after the murder.

A man who claimed to be a Navy buddy of Robinson said they were both in boot camp in San Diego in October, 1963. The CBS people thought Robinson was not guilty and the “computer made a mistake.” They assumed this would make a great 60 Minutes story: “Middle Class family man has life ruined by LA prosecutors.”

The evidence was 34 fingerprints left in the victim’s apartment. Not until 1990 were the fingerprints matched to Robinson through the then-new AFIS database.

The linchpin of Robinson’s defense was his claim that he was in Navy boot camp in San Diego on October 3, 1963. At trial, Navy records proved that the man who claimed to be with Robinson in boot camp had never served with him, and that Robinson was actually at a naval station in Santa Monica with freedom to leave the base at night, as he was in the Reserves, not the regular Navy.

During the trial, prosecutor Paul Turley produced Robinson's Naval records proving he was in Los Angeles at the time as a Navy Reservist. Robinson testified and Turley took him apart, piece by piece, on cross-examination.

Turley asked the jury, "Do you think anyone is entitled to a free murder every 30 years?"

Here is a pre-trial article in the Los Angeles Times of May 31, 1993 giving a summary of the case.

On October 27, 1993, after seven hours of deliberation, a downtown Los Angeles jury found Vernon Robinson guilty.

Here is the L.A. Times story on the sentencing hearing.

This was a fairly big win for the L.A. District Attorney’s office at the time.

On August 8 of this year, the California authorities “granted parole” to Robinson, according to the Inmate Locator for the California prison system. He has just been released, as his name is no longer in the system; last week he was.

What this means is outgoing Governor Jerry Brown (who could have overruled the parole board) authorized Robinson's parole. Brown has been paroling murderers in large numbers for years.

One caveat. Robinson had been in the Stockton Medical facility for many years. He may have been released due to poor health. I couldn’t find any news items concerning his parole.

I exchanged emails with former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Paul Turley, who prosecuted the case. Retired career L.A. prosecutor Walt Lewis, whose book on the criminal justice system I read, put us in touch. I had lunch with Mr. Turley in 2012 when he visited Nashville. He told me the CBS people expected a not guilty verdict going in, but as the trial went on they came up to him and said, “He really is guilty.”

The links provided give information. In addition, Google: “Vernon Robinson Thora Rose.”