Latest news with #JamesRobertson
The National
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Alan Cumming launches summer talks with 'beers and baps' in Highlands
Nestled in his home county of Perthshire, Cumming's new lecture series, A Beer, A Bap and A Boffin, will be held at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Cumming was elected as artistic director of the theatre in 2024. The series aims to spotlight leading experts from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which Cumming is a member of himself. On Saturday, June 14, the series opens with James Robertson's talk, What's next for Libraries, Literature, and Creativity?, which will explore the state of culture and literature in the library sector, shedding light on the future of our libraries as AI becomes increasingly commonplace. READ MORE: Crew for Christopher Nolan's film starring Matt Damon take over Scottish castle David Field FRSE, CEO of the Royal Zoological Society Scotland, continues the series on Saturday, August 2, with a talk on how to train your wildcat. Field's lecture seeks to uncover the techniques that specialists use to prepare zoo-bred wildcats for release, whilst also discussing the possibility of bringing back Scotland's lost species. On Saturday, August 23, Professor Niahm Nic Daeid FRSE closes the talks with her lecture titled "what is forensic science and why does it matter?" and discuss the crucial use of science in criminal investigation and trial. Cumming said one of the "many surprises" at the theatre is the "explorers garden," adding: "I want to find as many reasons as possible for it to be enjoyed. That's why I thought of A Beer, A Bap and A Boffin! "As a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, I have watched many academics mesmerise with their knowledge and rediscovered how fascinating it can be to learn about topics you'd otherwise never encounter. So, I invited some of these Boffins to do lectures in our Explorers Garden amphitheatre, and with the addition of a wee drink and a bite to eat as they extrapolate, I don't think there could be a better way to spend a summer's day! "Also, full disclosure this is both a steal and a homage to Oran Mor's brilliant A Play, A Pie and A Pint!' Alongside access to the talks, tickets include a complementary beer and a bap. For tickets and further information visit here, or call the Box Office on 01796484626.
Calgary Herald
5 days ago
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Superstore next landmark commercial store on Tsuut'ina Nation, breaks ground
A new Canadian Superstore will arrive in Tsuut'ina Nation by 2026, promising employment for residents of the Indigenous land and a push to the community's economy by attracting more visitors to the area. Article content Officials from the Tsuut'ina Nation, Taza Development Corp., along with executives from Loblaw, broke ground on the retail store on Thursday ahead of other development projects planned for the community. Article content Article content Article content James Robertson, president of Taza Development Corp. — an equal partnership between Tsuut'ina Nation and real estate development firm Canderel — said he's excited about this for two reasons. Article content Article content The first is a continuation of the Buffalo Run development that includes a suite of stores, including Costco and projects such as the Taza Park, a 470-acre urban village that would include 6,500 homes and one million square feet of commercial space, including a retail main street. Article content 'The second part is yet another major corporation is deciding to partner with us to bring the vision of Taza to life,' Robertson said. Article content Robertson said the outlet will also generate more employment for Indigenous people in its construction phase and after it's built. He expects a job fair next year, where the community will have an opportunity to apply for jobs. Some contractors, meanwhile, are from the nation and will probably hire their members. Article content Article content He said the organization is staying away from any targets on the number of Indigenous people they'd like to see hired. However, Jonathan Carroll, senior vice-president of Superstore Operations Loblaw Companies Ltd., said the company will work with the cultural team at the nation 'to understand and make sure that we can get the right colleagues into our business who are local.' Article content The aim of the new establishment, along with other projects, is to also attract more Calgarians and entice them to linger in the area for as long as possible, Travis Obert, vice president of land development at Taza, said. Article content 'So the idea is you can come, maybe drop off your kid at a basketball court, then go shopping, and then go for a walk.' Article content 'We are working with the cultural team to make sure we deliver the right images,' he added. Article content In addition to the development of the Taza Park, Robertson the community will receive other additions to the area near the Superstore, such as banks, restaurants other establishments. Article content
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Death row inmate's makes bizarre request to join execution PRIORITY LINE
A South Carolina death row inmate has asked a federal judge to allow him to become his own attorney in the hopes of expediting his execution. James Robertson, 51, is looking to represent himself after his best friend and four other death row inmates were all put to their deaths in the past year. Robertson, 51, has been on death row since 1999 after killing both his parents, Terry and Earl Robertson, in their Rock Hill home. He blinded his father with bathroom cleaner and beat him to death with the claw end of a hammer and a baseball bat, before stabbing his mother to death. Robertson tried to make it look like a robbery in hopes he would get his part of their $2.2 million estate, prosecutors said. A federal judge has ordered a 45-day delay in his request so a lawyer can talk to him and make sure he really wants to fire his own attorneys. He had sent a one-page letter to a judge's mailbox which said that he and his lawyer had a difference in opinion. Since 'no ethical attorney will withdraw an appeal that will result in their client's execution,' Robertson said he was ready to represent himself. Robertson's attorney Emily Paavola responded in court documents that Robertson wasn't taking medication for depression. She also said he suffered from chronic back pain and a skin condition that made him more depressed and was distressed over those five executions that dropped the close-knit death row population from 30 to 25. His best friend on death row Marion Bowman Jr. was killed by lethal injection on January 31 of this year. Paavloa asked the judge to hold off on Robertson's request for four months so he could have a full psychiatric evaluation to decide if he is mentally competent. Prosecutors suggested the judge could talk to Robertson on her own and decide if was able to act as his own lawyer. Judge Mary Gordon Baker decided to have a different lawyer talk to Robertson, making sure he understands the implications and consequences of his decision and report back by early July. Back in the early 2000s, Robertson also sought to drop all his appeals. He told a judge at the time he thought he got the better end of the deal with a death sentence instead of life in prison without parole and he had been let down by every lawyer he had encountered since his arrest. A judge asked Robertson at a 2002 hearing about his friend Michael Passaro's decision to volunteer for the death chamber. Robertson said: 'It hasn't changed my view. What it did was it made me understand - enhanced reality a bit - to see my best friend go from one day playing cards with me to the next day not being here any more. 'He basically has taken a similar route that I'm choosing to take now and we spoke often about his decision.' Volunteers, as they are called in death penalty circles, have been around since the death penalty was reinstated 50 years ago. About 10% of all U.S. executions are inmates who agree to die before finishing all their appeals, according to statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center. According to The Herald, prosecutors arrested Robertson in Philadelphia following the killings after fleeing South Carolina up the east coast alongside his girlfriend. The outlet reported that Robertson left a trail of evidence as he headed north, including bloody clothes at a Maryland rest stop. His 1999 trial was broadcast on CourtTV and since then there has been numerous TV specials and a true crime book about the case.
Washington Post
21-05-2025
- Washington Post
South Carolina death row inmate seeks to volunteer to die after friends are executed
COLUMBIA, S.C. — After his best friend and four other of his fellow death row inmates have been put to death in less than a year, a South Carolina inmate wants to become his own attorney which would likely mean his own execution in weeks or months. A federal judge has ordered a 45-day delay in James Robertson's request to have a different lawyer talk to him and make sure he really wants to fire his own attorneys and deal with the likely lethal consequences of his decision. Robertson , 51, has been on death row since 1999 after killing both his parents in their Rock Hill home. He beat his father with the claw end of a hammer and a baseball bat and stabbed his mother. He tried to make it look like a robbery in hopes he would get his part of their $2.2 million estate, prosecutors said. Robertson has fired his lawyers before. Not long after he arrived on death row he wanted to drop his appeals after a card playing buddy never appealed his death sentence for setting a van on fire with his daughter inside outside his ex-wife's house. A one-page letter from Robinson landed in a federal judge's mailbox on April 7, four days before South Carolina executed its fifth inmate in seven months. It said Robertson and his lawyer had a difference of opinion. Since 'no ethical attorney will withdraw an appeal that will result in their client's execution,' Robertson said he was ready to represent himself. Robertson's attorney Emily Paavola responded in court documents that Robertson wasn't taking medication for depression, suffered from chronic back pain and a skin condition that made him more depressed and was distressed over those five executions that dropped the close-knit death row population from 30 to 25. Included was Robertson's best friend on death row, Marion Bowman Jr. , killed by lethal injection on Jan. 31, Paavola said. Paavloa asked the judge to hold off on Robertson's request for four months so he could have a full psychiatric evaluation to decide if he is mentally competent. Prosecutors suggested the judge could talk to Robertson on her own and decide if was able to act as his own lawyer. Judge Mary Gordon Baker decided to have a different lawyer talk to Robertson, making sure he understands the implications and consequences of his decision and report back by early July. Back in the early 2000s, Robertson also sought to drop all his appeals. He told a judge at the time he thought he got the better end of the deal with a death sentence instead of life in prison without parole and he had been let down by every lawyer he had encountered since his arrest. A judge asked Robertson at a 2002 hearing about his friend Michael Passaro's decision to volunteer for the death chamber. 'It hasn't changed my view. What it did was it made me understand — enhanced reality a bit — to see my best friend go from one day playing cards with me to the next day not being here any more,' Robertson said. 'He basically has taken a similar route that I'm choosing to take now and we spoke often about his decision.' Volunteers, as they are called in death penalty circles, have been around since the death penalty was reinstated 50 years ago. About 10% of all U.S. executions are inmates who agree to die before finishing all their appeals, according to statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center. Research by the center and academics found that nearly all volunteers had mental illness that may have led them to decide they no longer wanted to live. The rate of volunteers has taken a steady decline along with the number of executions. From 2000 to 2009, 65 of the 590 U.S. executions involved an inmate who dropped appeals, including Timothy McVeigh for killing 148 people in the Oklahoma City bombing. From 2020 to now, just seven of the 111 people put to death have been considered volunteers by the center. The prosecutor who sent Robertson to death row said he can understand why inmates choose to stop fighting their sentences. 'If you told me — be incarcerated on death row the rest of your life or just go ahead and go to the Lord, you know, I might choose the latter too,' said Tommy Pope, now Speaker Pro Tem of the South Carolina House. But Pope said 26 years ago, he also observed a young man with above average intelligence who likes to work the system when he can and often thinks he is smarter than his attorneys. 'As usual with Jimmy, it will remain to be seen how it plays out until the very end,' Pope said.
The Independent
21-05-2025
- The Independent
South Carolina death row inmate seeks to volunteer to die after friends are executed
After his best friend and four other of his fellow death row inmates have been put to death in less than a year, a South Carolina inmate wants to become his own attorney which would likely mean his own execution in weeks or months. A federal judge has ordered a 45-day delay in James Robertson's request to have a different lawyer talk to him and make sure he really wants to fire his own attorneys and deal with the likely lethal consequences of his decision. Robertson, 51, has been on death row since 1999 after killing both his parents in their Rock Hill home. He beat his father with the claw end of a hammer and a baseball bat and stabbed his mother. He tried to make it look like a robbery in hopes he would get his part of their $2.2 million estate, prosecutors said. Robertson has fired his lawyers before. Not long after he arrived on death row he wanted to drop his appeals after a card playing buddy never appealed his death sentence for setting a van on fire with his daughter inside outside his ex-wife's house. A letter from a death row inmate A one-page letter from Robinson landed in a federal judge's mailbox on April 7, four days before South Carolina executed its fifth inmate in seven months. It said Robertson and his lawyer had a difference of opinion. Since 'no ethical attorney will withdraw an appeal that will result in their client's execution,' Robertson said he was ready to represent himself. Robertson's attorney Emily Paavola responded in court documents that Robertson wasn't taking medication for depression, suffered from chronic back pain and a skin condition that made him more depressed and was distressed over those five executions that dropped the close-knit death row population from 30 to 25. Included was Robertson's best friend on death row, Marion Bowman Jr., killed by lethal injection on Jan. 31, Paavola said. Paavloa asked the judge to hold off on Robertson's request for four months so he could have a full psychiatric evaluation to decide if he is mentally competent. Prosecutors suggested the judge could talk to Robertson on her own and decide if was able to act as his own lawyer. Judge Mary Gordon Baker decided to have a different lawyer talk to Robertson, making sure he understands the implications and consequences of his decision and report back by early July. Not the first time Back in the early 2000s, Robertson also sought to drop all his appeals. He told a judge at the time he thought he got the better end of the deal with a death sentence instead of life in prison without parole and he had been let down by every lawyer he had encountered since his arrest. A judge asked Robertson at a 2002 hearing about his friend Michael Passaro's decision to volunteer for the death chamber. 'It hasn't changed my view. What it did was it made me understand — enhanced reality a bit — to see my best friend go from one day playing cards with me to the next day not being here any more,' Robertson said. 'He basically has taken a similar route that I'm choosing to take now and we spoke often about his decision.' Volunteers for death Volunteers, as they are called in death penalty circles, have been around since the death penalty was reinstated 50 years ago. About 10% of all U.S. executions are inmates who agree to die before finishing all their appeals, according to statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center. Research by the center and academics found that nearly all volunteers had mental illness that may have led them to decide they no longer wanted to live. The rate of volunteers has taken a steady decline along with the number of executions. From 2000 to 2009, 65 of the 590 U.S. executions involved an inmate who dropped appeals, including Timothy McVeigh for killing 148 people in the Oklahoma City bombing. From 2020 to now, just seven of the 111 people put to death have been considered volunteers by the center. Prosecutor understands not fighting death sentence The prosecutor who sent Robertson to death row said he can understand why inmates choose to stop fighting their sentences. 'If you told me — be incarcerated on death row the rest of your life or just go ahead and go to the Lord, you know, I might choose the latter too,' said Tommy Pope, now Speaker Pro Tem of the South Carolina House. But Pope said 26 years ago, he also observed a young man with above average intelligence who likes to work the system when he can and often thinks he is smarter than his attorneys. 'As usual with Jimmy, it will remain to be seen how it plays out until the very end,' Pope said.
