Department of Justice

CONTACT: Bob Troester

                  MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - Sheldon J. Sperling, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, announced today that an Order has been signed in the matter of KATHERINE MELADIE ROBERTSON, age 35, formerly of Hulbert, Oklahoma.  The Order denied the relief ROBERTSON had requested.

                  “On February 25, 2008, the defendant filed a Motion to Change Method by Which Balance of Sentence is Served,” stated U.S. Attorney Sheldon J. Sperling. “The Honorable Ronald A. White, District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, entered an Order denying ROBERTSON’s motion.”

                  “The defendant requested that she be allowed to serve the remainder of her sentence on home confinement or in a halfway house-like facility in order to care for her two children,” U.S. Attorney Sperling reported.  “ROBERTSON has served 41 months of her 120 month sentence.  A federal jury had found her guilty of conspiracy to use an interstate commerce facility in the commission of a murder-for-hire.  In January 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence.” 

                  “The defendant argued that the Bureau of Prisons did not initiate the Family Unity Demonstration Project.  She sought sentence modification to care for her two children, now 18 and 10 years of age.  Judge White correctly found that the defendant’s situation did not fit the guidelines of the Act.  The law applies to children under the age of seven years of age.  The defendant was also properly found ineligible for relief because the length of the defendant’s imprisonment was also outside of the applicable guidelines.  The maximum sentence to which the Act applies, is seven years.  The defendant was sentenced to ten years.” 

                  “The Order signed by Judge White further states that ‘A district court does not have inherent authority to modify a previously imposed sentence; it may do so only pursuant to statutory authority.’ The defendant’s situation did not meet any of the jurisdictional grants allowed by statute 18 U.S. C. Section 3582 (c ):  a motion by the Director of Bureau of Prisons; a modification expressly permitted by statute and Rule 35; or lowering of the sentencing range by the Sentencing Commission.”
 
                   “On appeal, ROBERTSON had argued that the district court improperly instructed the jury as to an element of the offense, and abused its discretion in failing to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine whether a conversation between a state-court deputy clerk and a juror was improper.  The appellate court rejected both of these contentions.”

“In addition, the appellate court found the evidence overwhelming as presented to the jury at trial concerning the agreement between ROBERTSON and Mr. Means and the underlying intent that a murder be committed.  The panel found that if one enters into an agreement calling for the death of another in exchange for something of pecuniary value, then malice aforethought necessarily exists.”

                  “The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals found the following facts. ROBERTSON was convicted with Hugh Alan Means, her former employer, with whom she had an extramarital affair, to use an interstate commerce facility (a telephone) in the commission of a murder-for-hire.  The object of the conspiracy was to hire a hit man to murder her husband.”

                  “Means pled guilty and was sentenced to 60 months in prison to be followed by 24 months of supervised release.  The sentences of both defendants in this case are not subject to parole.”
                             
                  “The charges arose from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI monitored phone calls and meetings between an undercover agent and Hugh Alan Means.  The conspirators sought to hire a professional who could make someone go away and make it look like an accident.”

                  “Assistant United States Attorney Robert Gay Guthrie admirably represented the United States at trial, on appeal, and in this post-conviction action,” noted U.S. Attorney Sperling.  “ROBERTSON is in federal prison.  Her projected release date is May 4, 2013.  Means is also in federal prison.  His projected release date is August 1, 2008.”

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