Jake Robel Murder

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Reno Refuses to Prosecute Federal Murder of 6-Year Old Child

Originally Posted February 26, 2000; Editor's Note Posted March 15, 2000

By Vince Milum

Editor's Note: As we first reported to you on Thursday, February 24, 2000, the U.S. Justice Department has elected not to prosecute Kim L. Davis for the February 22 murder of Jake D. Robel despite overwhelming evidence that the Federal Carjacking statute (18 USC Sect. 2119) has been violated. On Friday, March 3, 2000, John Pepitone of WDAF-TV (FOX 4) called www.milum.net to interview Vince Milum regarding this matter. The interview was to be conducted at 1:30 PM that same day. At 1:10 PM, Mr. Pepitone called Mr. Milum to advise that the state prosecutor (Robert Beaird) had scheduled a press conference for 3:00 PM at which it was to be announced that the death penalty would be pursued by the state. (Mr. Beaird had previously stated that the death penalty was not an option.) (Due to the impact of the death penalty announcement by the state, the discussion of the federal death penalty option has indefinitely been postponed.)

Now that the state has come around to the position of www.milum.net, we ask that you call the U.S. Attorney's Office and tell them that you want a federal prosecution as well. (Telephone number of federal prosecutor is provided at the conclusion of this article.)

Star Editorial Affirms Federal Implications

After we had chastised the news division of the Kansas City Star for failing to do its job – the Star failed to report that a federal law may have been broken or that the death penalty was an option – the editorial page rescued the Star's tarnished reputation by correctly confirming both legal aspects which, we reiterate, only the Milum Network was correctly reporting (see link near bottom of this page). In its lead editorial on Friday, February 25, the Star said:

"While [the defendant] sits in jail awaiting his next state-court appearance, the U.S. attorney might want to consider whether federal charges should be brought against him." Going further, the Star gets it right this time and states, the "federal carjacking law can invoke the death penalty."

So, what's the problem?

Janet Reno, that's the problem. The attorney general, who opposes the death penalty, is abusing her prosecutorial discretion. Even the Star, which also opposes the death penalty, stated in its lead editorial, "It is tempting to consider this option in this case."

Please, we ask you . . .

Regardless of whether you support the death penalty, call the Justice Department and/or the U.S. Attorney and tell them that you want this case prosecuted. (The telephone number for the Kansas City area federal prosecutor is 816-426-3122.)