Robert Pryor - Victim of the Felony Murder law
Who is Robert Pryor?
{UPDATE: Robert was sentenced to 16 years in the Arizona Department of corrections. He will receive 2 years credit for time served. This was done with a coerced plea bargain <defined as the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats, he was threatened with life without parole>. The judge gave the minimum he was able to give under that plea deal}
Robert and his identical twin brother Austin, were born in Warwick RI 6/26/96 The boys weighed only 5 pounds 1 Oz and 5 pounds 3 oz. Robert's mother went into labor when she was 20 weeks along was admitted into the hospital. That hospital stay lasted until she was 34 weeks on bed rest and was given tributelane to stop the labor. She was also given steroids everyday during the week of pregnancy to make sure the boys lungs were developed
Robert's parents separated when he was 3 years old. The marriage had become abusive. The boys then lived a life of a split family, spending time divided among Mom, Dad and Grandparents and also between Arizona and Wyoming.
Robert has had a special education IEP since the 1st grade, suffering from a variety of learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, ADHD, and other cognitive disabilities. He was held back to repeat kindergarten in hopes of giving him a chance to catch up. Robert had a great deal of difficulty with reading, math and spelling. He was in special speech classes for several years. Children with these types of disabilities often find themselves among the wrong peer groups, seeking approval. Robert was no exception.
Robert had left his home with his mother in Wyoming to go to Arizona where his father and grandparents were living. He had only been in Arizona for 8 or 9 months and was meeting other kids in the neighborhood. Trying to fit in living in a less than favorable neighborhood, Robert would find himself among the wrong group of people.
Robert was with a few friends (Daniel age 16, and two other boys aged 15) and they went to a carnival. While there the boys ran into 3 other young men, all over 18. The older boys were having problems with a local drug dealer. One witness reported having seen Luis (one of the older boys) arguing with the man earlier that day. The group traveled to the drug dealers home and decided to rob the drug dealer. The two 15 year old boys remained in the car (they would be labeled as look outs). Robert was the only one of the group that was unarmed, did not have a gun yet he is facing the harshest sentence. Why? That is a very good question.
Intent To Rob is Not Intent To Kill
The home invasion went bad, the group ran from the home and while doing so a neighbor, having heard the commotion, ran out and shot and killed 25 year old Luis. Luis was the primary party committing the crime of burglary, he was a co-conspirator. He was the one killed but the other boys are the ones charged with felony murder. Regardless of having killed no one, felony murder holds all accountable for the actions of one. The remaining boys were arrested and charged in the death of their friend.
In the articles below you will see what each were sentenced to. Robert just recently (Feb 2016) was forced to accept a plea deal. Had he gone to trial under a felony murder charge he would have gotten life without parole. Even with the plea deal Robert is facing more time than any of the others, yet he was the only one without a gun.
Luis was killed, Forrest received 7 years, the other two received 10 years and the 16 year old received 13 years. Robert is looking at 16-25 years. Why? Again, that is a very good question.
Please visit our section on felony murder and educate yourself on how someone who does not harm nor kill can end up charged with murder. In many states that have this law, it is worded in such a way as to require an actual innocent victim. It can not be a co-conspirator that dies to qualify for felony murder. Arizona is not one of those states.
Robert's family and many others feel that Robert should be charged with the crime that was actually committed and sentenced accordingly. That is not what the Tuscon prosecutor chose to do. Felony murder is a law that has been abolished in every other country that had it, and several states in the US have also removed this law.
So The Story Goes
The teen brother of a man who was killed while participating in a home invasion in the Three Points area was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Forrest Ezekiel Lupercio, 19, was originally charged with first-degree murder under the state's felony murder law in connection with the death of his brother, Luis Antonio Lupercio, who was fatally shot by a neighbor of the home the brothers and three others were invading.
In December, the younger Lupercio pleaded guilty to manslaughter, burglary in the first degree and armed robbery.
"I know you went into it following your older brother," Pima County Superior Court Judge Casey McGinley said to Lupercio. "But at the same time, as an 18-year-old, you had to know how dangerous it could be."
On March 29, 2014, the Lupercio brothers, Robert M. Pryor, Daniel Mancilla-Rangel and Osvaldo Carrillo-Valenzuela knocked on the door a home in the 14400 block of West Kestrel Road, near Arizona 86 and South Sierrita Mountain Road, according to court documents. They reportedly posed as deputies, yelling "sheriff’s department" as they knocked.
A detective’s testimony transcript read, "(The home invasion victim) said they forced him upstairs at gunpoint, beat him, pistol whipped him, demanding valuables, marijuana from him." One of the men was armed with an AK-47.
Court records showed the victim had a medical marijuana card, which could have been known to Pryor, who the victim said he knew from the area.
A neighbor whose house is adjacent to the victim’s came out with the shotgun to investigate the noise. The neighbor told Pima County deputies that he heard "noise, screaming, ruckus," according to court documents. One of the men fired, so he returned fire.
Luis Antonio Lupercio was fatally shot in the process. Forrest Lupercio had fled prior to the shooting.
Clay Hernandez, who represents Forrest Lupercio, asked the judge to consider the emotional appeal from their mother for leniency on her younger son, the fact that he was not as involved in the planning of the home invasion as others were and that he was following his older brother, who he looked up to.
"I just want to say sorry to my parents and my brother," Lupercio said at the sentencing. “I’m sorry to the people whose house I broke into.”
Pryor, Mancilla-Rangel and Carrillo-Valenzuela are all facing first-degree murder charges. A jury trial will begin for Pryor on April 21, and a plea hearing is scheduled for Mancilla-Rangel on Feb. 23 and Carrillo-Valenzuela on March 13.
Contact reporter Yoohyun Jung at [email protected] or 520-573-4224. On Twitter: @yoohyun_jung
Another report written by Tucson News Now
TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
An attempted home invasion ended in a shooting early Saturday morning at the 14400 block of West Kestrel Road, according to Pima County Sheriff's Department PIO Tracy Suitt.
The call came in around 1:20 a.m. and, when authorities arrived, they found 26-year-old Luis Antonio Lupercio severely injured. Deputies attempted life saving measures, but the man succumbed to his injuries and died at the home.
Authorities said that, overnight, 4 people entered the home, armed with guns. They demanded property in the home and one of the residents was injured.
As they fled, a neighbor heard the noise and came to the house. A confrontation occurred between him and one of the suspects. Shots were fired and the suspect died from his injuries, according to Lt. David Theel of the Pima County Sheriff's Department.
Detectives have arrested two of the men who fled. The first is 17-year-old Robert M. Pryor. He is being charged with first degree murder in this case. He has been booked into Pima County Jail and will be considered an adult in the trial.
The second arrest happened Sunday morning. Osvaldo Carrillo-Valenzuela, 20-years-old, was arrested and booked on first degree murder charges.
Pryor and Carrillo-Valenzuela are not being accused of shooting Luis Antonio Lupercio. But, in Arizona, if a death occurs while someone is committing a felony, it is considered grounds for a murder charge.
Detectives will not yet confirm if there was a previous relationship between the suspects and the people inside the home.
Homicide Detectives are currently searching for the three other suspects and Sheriff's Deputies say that they have very strong leads. Anyone with information regarding the incident is being asked to call 9-1-1 or 88-CRIME.
Copyright 2014 Tucson News Now. All rights reserved.
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Comments
I think it's crap that now I read the story that Arizona law shouldn't charge Robert with the murder the burglary charge as a look out yes but as getting charged with murder all the kids there shouldn't be charged the pd should be going after the neighbors for the murder charge not those who were robing . Those are two different charges and they are getting charged for a murder they didn't do. That's fucked up
DL
DL
This makes me sad because he doesn't deserve this....
LC
LC
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