Wife Convicted of Involuntary Manslaughter After Falsely Accusing Her Husband of Murder

Posted on May 4, 2008 by Ron Chapman

Unfortunately, we are often inclined to automatically believe the accusations that others make without first checking out their story.  The inevitable result is that we are sometimes duped into believing false accusations.  When false accusations are made in the criminal justice system, the consequences can be devastating.  Fortunately for a man in Texas, an accusation of murder lodged against him by his wife was discovered to be false before he had to stand trial.  He was fortunate.  Some are not.  What follows is a brief recounting of his story.

Tracy Denise Roberson convicted of involuntary manslaughter

7:21 PM CDT, May 2, 2008 

FORT WORTH, Texas - A Texas woman who caused her lover's shooting death by falsely crying rape was convicted Friday of involuntary manslaughter.

Tracy Denise Roberson, 37, cried a bit when the verdict was announced. The punishment phase was set for Monday, and she faces two to 20 years in prison.

In late 2006, Darrell Roberson came home from a late-night card game to find his scantily clad wife with another man in a pickup truck in the driveway. Tracy Roberson was with her lover but cried rape, and her husband fired four shots into the truck as Devin LaSalle drove off, killing him.

Darrell Roberson initially was arrested, but a murder charge was later dropped and a grand jury indicted Tracy Roberson instead.

During her three-day trial, defense attorneys called no witnesses but blamed LaSalle's death on Darrell Roberson's jealousy and rage.

But prosecutors placed all the blame on Tracy Roberson, showing evidence of the affair with LaSalle, 32, and a text message in which she invited him to her house that evening.

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False Accusations and Self-Inflicted Injuries

Posted on March 31, 2008 by Ron Chapman

The Fall 2007 edition of the Florida Defender, a publication of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, contains an article entitled "False Allegations of Sexual Assault:  Why Do People Lie?" 

In that article, the authors make the insightful observation that "[c]ases of self-inflicted injury are particularly insidious because, except in suicide attempts, law enforcement officers are not accustomed to the phenomenon, and tend to presume the injuries are caused by others.  More important, persuading jurors that an apparent victim is capable of such bizarre behavior is difficult."

A few years ago, I represented a man whose wife claimed that he had attacked her with a box cutter outside the courthouse.  The police had taken the woman to their department where they photographed her injuries which consisted of some parallel cuts on one of her wrists. 

My client adamantly denied his wife's accusation, and there was reason to believe he was telling the truth.  His wife had a documented history of mental-health problems, and she and my client were currently going through a divorce.

I sent the photographs of the wife's injuries to a forensic pathologist who immediately concluded that they were self-inflicted.  When I told this to the prosecutor on the case (and to his boss), both dismissed the expert's conclusion.  The case proceeded to trial.

At trial the jury (aided by the forensic pathologist's testimony) concluded that my client was not guilty of any wrongdoing.  After the trial, several of the jurors asked me why the case had not been dismissed by the prosecutor since the woman's injuries were clearly self-inflicted. 

I have since wondered why experienced prosecutors could not see what was so obvious to those jurors who had no training in the law.

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