By Kathryn Reed
Jurors are expected to begin deliberations this afternoon in the South Lake Tahoe murder trial of the man accused of killing his 4-year-old son, but whose body has never been found.
Ulysses Roberson is on trial for first-degree murder in the killing of Alexander Olive in their Tahoe Keys home in either December 1985 or January 1986.
Uylsses Roberson
Roberson calls the boy Salaam — meaning peace. El Dorado County Deputy District Attorney Tricia Kelliher in her initial closing arguments on Monday pointed out what she called an irony for Roberson to name the boy “peace” when he probably never had a day of it in his short life.
Kelliher is scheduled to finish her closing arguments at 8:30 this morning in El Dorado County Superior Court. Judge Suzanne Kingsbury is presiding.
Defense attorney Monica Lynch in her closing arguments admonished local and other law enforcement for not following up on leads from people who thought they had seen the boy between 1988-2002.
“If the government had done its job, the reliability of these witnesses would not be questioned,” Lynch said.
Sitting in the courtroom were FBI agent Chris Campion and South Lake Tahoe police Capt. Martin Hewlett — two of the primary investigators of the case.
Throughout the trial, which began Oct. 5, a slew of witnesses have taken the stand. Roberson was not one of them.
CSU Chico sociology Professor Janja Lalich, who is considered a cult expert, was brought in by the prosecution to talk about the mindsets of people who seemingly blindly follow a leader. Defense attorney Monica Lynch got her way in that the word “cult” was not allowed to be used throughout the trial.
Several of the women Roberson has been involved with have taken the stand.
Judy Olive, the boy’s mother, sat in the same row as her two sisters and brother. It was her brother who helped her to leave the cult-like home Roberson had created, where he slept with several women and fathered even more children.
After Monday’s hearing, Olive did not want to speak with Lake Tahoe News. “My only comment is I am appreciative of everyone doing their job,” she said.
At times she was in tears, other times she stared intently at the person speaking. She and Roberson never seemed to make eye contact.
Roberson passed notes to his attorney while the prosecution spoke. While Lynch gave her arguments, he sat stoically — engaged in what was being said.
Roberson could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if the jury finds him guilty. Jurors must also consider two enhancements — that the crime was racially motivated and a form of torture.
Testimony during the trial painted Roberson as a racist who hated his young son for being half white.
Another issue the jury must consider is whether Raj Roberson was an accomplice to the crime. The defense must prove that this woman who essentially was wife No. 1 is not credible and therefore her testimony should be disregarded.
Lynch made a compelling case for that in her closing arguments. Liar was a repeated description of this woman who had taken the stand against Roberson.
Kelliher was forthright in depicting Roberson as an evil man whose self-absorption and need for control was often demonstrated through his abusiveness toward the women and children he lived with.
This is not Roberson’s first run-in with the law. He is well known to Washington state authorities. Click here for more on his past.
