Burn Victim Fingers His Attacker In Deathbed Video

[Guilty Bystander]

While Robert Ray Middleton did not live long enough to see justice served, a $150 billion civil jury award came Tuesday for the family of Middleton, who was severely burned as a boy in 1998 near his Splendora home.

Now, Middleton, who died last spring at the age of 20, also may finally get the justice he wanted in the form of criminal charges against the person he insisted deliberately set him on fire.

Middleton was 8 years old when someone tied him up, poured gasoline on him and set him on fire. He was able to run from the woods where he was burned, and neighbors ran to help him.

With third-degree burns over nearly 100 percent of his body, Middleton clung to life for weeks until he recovered enough to undergo the first of countless skin grafts.

When he died last spring, the cause of death was ruled skin cancer, which his mother Colleen previously said was caused by his injuries from being burned.

A jury in La Grange awarded $150 billion in damages to Middleton’s family Tuesday. While family members know they won’t see any of that money, they are hoping the verdict will urge Montgomery County to reopen the case against Don Wilburn Collins, said Ken Bigham, one of the attorneys working pro bono for the Middletons in the civil case.

“They wanted this to put some kind of value on Robby’s life,” Bigham said Wednesday. “When Robby came to see me, all he wanted was for Don Collins to be prosecuted or to know why this happened.

“He wanted justice.”

Collins, currently imprisoned on an unrelated sexual assault charge of a boy, was never charged and denies involvement in Middleton’s death.

Montgomery County already has reopened its investigation, and the case is “still being worked on,” County Attorney David Walker said.

“We will do our best to prosecute this.”

Walker said his office will work in conjunction with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office to move the case to district court.

“The process requires that we request a transfer to district court,” he said. “We must demonstrate that we could not prosecute this earlier but now we can, and judge, here’s why.

“It was always very, very difficult to come up with the evidence.”

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is “close to completing” its investigation, Walker said.

Detectives arrested Collins, who was 13 at the time, for the assault. He was held in juvenile detention for three months without bond as investigators and prosecutors tried to build a case against him.

They never could because the physical evidence did not match the statements investigators had gotten from everyone, defense attorney Bill Pattillo, a former Montgomery County juvenile prosecutor, previously said.

“It seems as though investigators were only able to collect a pack of lies from everybody they talked to,” he previously said.

Days after he was burned, Middleton woke up long enough to tell detectives, “Don did it.”

Collins was the No. 1 suspect, Pattillo previously said, but he and investigators were unable to corroborate Collins’ statements with the physical evidence.

Collins, now 26, is incarcerated for failing to comply with his registration as a sex offender. Convicted in 2001 for the aggravated sexual assault of an 8-year-old boy in Liberty County, Collins is required to be registered as a sex offender the rest of his life.

Bigham and the legal teams who worked for the $150 billion civil award will “share everything we have” with Montgomery County, he said.

He would not be specific regarding what evidence was presented during the civil trial.

“It’s my understanding that Montgomery County has evidence from the crime scene that is quite compelling,” he said. “The most direct evidence was Robby himself.”

The fact that Montgomery County is reopening the case “would be fantastic,” Bigham said.

“Robby was unwavering that all he wanted in life was justice and there was no doubt in his mind who’d done this,” he said. “This is a step in the right direction.”

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/couri...5ec6ad2ea.html

Saw this story today.

[Whisper]

$150B Awarded Against Rapist Who Set Boy on Fire, But No Prosecution
DECEMBER 22, 2011
A record setting jury award to the family of a Texas child who was raped and murdered has lawyers wondering, where are the criminal charges?
•Robbie Middleton raped, then set on fire in 1998, died this year from complications
•Civil jury holds Don Willburn Collins responsible, but county officials have not brought criminal case
•Collins jailed for separate sex charges, up for parole next year

Mugshots of Don Willburn Collins

"The Worst Thing I've Ever Seen"

A Texas jury this week awarded a largely symbolic $150 billion in punitive damages to the family of Robert Middleton, who in 1998 at the age of seven was sexually assaulted,then doused in gasoline and set on fire by Don Willburn Collins, the family asserts. Earlier this year, Middleton died from complications from the burns. Collins, who is in prison for unrelated sex offense charges, is up for parole in 2012 and has never been prosecuted for the attack on Middleton.

"This is the worst thing I've ever seen in my life," says attorney Craig Sico, who litigated the case pro-bono for the Middleton family. Sico says the family understands they will never see the $150 billion punitive judgment from Collins, nor the $370 million awarded in actual damages.
"The family understood from beginning they will not be receiving a penny," Sico says. "The purpose of the litigation was to turn attention to Montgomery County and ask why they won't do their job."
"The Middletons don't want money from this, they just want justice."

Unthinkable Attack Leads to Death 13 Years Later

The story began in 1998, when 7-year-old Robbie Middleton was walking through the woods near his home in Splendora, in Texas' Montgomery County. It was there he said he was attacked and sexually assaulted by the neighborhood bully, then 13-year-old Don Willburn Collins. Two weeks later, on the boy's eighth birthday, he was again attacked in the woods by Collins. This time, he said he saw Collins throw gasoline in his face, then, blinded, felt the older boy tie him to a tree with fishing line, pour more gasoline on him, and ignite the fuel. The fishing line melted in the fire, and Middleton was able to escape to a neighbor's yard.

He was admitted to the hospital with third degree burns covering 99 percent of his body. The Shriners Burn Hospital in Galveston treated Middleton with extensive surgical procedures and skin replacements, over 100 surgeries in all. The expert treatment saved the boy's life, if only temporarily.

On April 29, 2011, Middleton finally succumbed to Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Skin Invading Abdominal Cavity, a cancer caused exclusively by burn damages, doctors testified. What had been an attempted murder in 1998 came to completion this year.

Evidence but No Criminal Charges

Two weeks before he died, Robert Middleton created a video deposition where he identified Don Willburn Collins as his attacker. "He testified that he'd been raped by Don Collins and where," Sico says. "He saw Don Collins before he threw the gasoline." The evidence presented by the family was enough to convince the jury to hold Collins responsible.
As far as criminal charges go, there has been no news for 13 years. The Middleton family contends that no Montgomery County officials spoke to Robert when he was recovering in the hospital.
Attorney Craig SicoThe only response to the civil suit by the Montgomery County Attorney's Office has been to open a cold case file on the Middleton murder, which may indicate an investigation but also allowed them to block lawyers from subpoenaing their files for the civil case. "They don't disclose their files to us, they won't talk to me," Sico says. "We don't know why."

Though the attack took place 13 years ago, Texas has no statute of limitations on murder cases, and a statute of limitations for aggravated sexual assault only kicks in ten years after the victim's 18th birthday. Robert Middleton was twenty years old when he died this year.
[...]

Attacker Could Be Freed Next Year

Collins, meanwhile, was convicted in 2001 of aggravated sexual assault against a different 8-year-old boy and spent four years in juvenile detention. He has since been convicted of theft and resisting arrest in 2007, and in 2009 and 2010 for failing to comply with his sex registry requirements. He is currently in prison on the second charge, and up for parole in 2012.
The consequences of his release could be grave, says Sico. "I don't believe he is done preying on children," the attorney says. "And if he continues to refuse to register as sex offender, I don't know how anyone in the community where he lives will know who he is or what he's done."

Collins' public sex offender profile lists him as a "moderate" risk, with an ending registration date in 2016.

http://www.swbtrial.com/articles/17.php

Before

Robbie Middleton, seen before the attack, was set on fire on June 28, 1998, his 8th birthday

Because I know some cant handle certain pics

[SPOILER

Attorney Craig Sico

[badfish76]

If I were that poor kid's folks I would kill the son of a bitch now that my son is gone.

[startheory]

Wow this is just utterly heartbreaking. I thought Texas was better at justice than this :( Fail, Texas. RIP sweet boy.

[Johnn0483]

I looked this one up because I was amazed that there was no prosecution. According to Bill Patillo, the prosecutor in charge, Robbie was interviewed but gave confusing testimony. Middleton was heavily drugged for pain and had to be interviewed between shots of pain meds. This is all understandable....to a point......clearly, the folks in Texas were way too busy to take the extra time necessary to interview him when he was lucid. Robbie has said that the person responsible was none other than Don Collins who was 13 at the time of the attacks. Collins admitted to the assault but prosecutors say there are "problems" with it. Collins later served time for an unrelated sexual assault on an 8 year old boy. He is currently serving time for failing to register and about to be released. Prosecutor Patillo was asked why this case was never pursued had this to say “better to let him go and get him in the future, than try him and lose it.” In the future????? ok, I have to stop......words fail me.

[princessgrandma]

Let him go and get him in the future?? WTF?

Un-freaking-believable.

[Valasca]

And yet Robbie tried to smile for the camera despite being in obvious pain.
Just shoot the fucker. Seriously.

[ineedanap]

What a fucking farse. Being awarded $150 billion from a person who will likely never work is a fucking joke. I'd be insulted if I were the parents of the man who died. Where is the prison time? Lock him up, he's of no value to society. Better yet, execute him.

[Silvahalo]

This really hit me in the gut. I'm from Texas and I can tell you we don't take kindly to child killers. Don't know how this happened but it not only enrages me but makes me ill. I have a boy by the same age, can't begin to tell you how this makes me feel. I can tell you that child raper/killer would beg to die after I got my hands on him, nothing left to pulverize and nothing the earth would want returned.

My deepest sympathies to the family--my heart is heavy for their loss now only left with the memories of Robbie. My the grace of the angels in heavens embrace their child back into their fold.

[Obsolete]

And yet Robbie tried to smile for the camera despite being in obvious pain.
Just shoot the fucker. Seriously.

He's not smiling. The muscles around his mouth have contracted, preventing him from closing his mouth. I've seen the same thing in multiple burn victims while volunteering at the hospital and care centers my mom use to work at.

But still shoot the fucker, of course.

[Whisper]

DA considers charges against man suspected of setting boy on fire in '98

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Fourteen years after someone set Robbie Middleton on fire, he died from cancer related to the attack. The case has now lead to a record $150 billion civil judgment.
And now, we've learned that Montgomery County is considering criminal charges, which is something Robbie's parents have been requesting for years.
While the Middleton family had somewhat of a symbolic verdict with that civil settlement, they are still waiting for a day in criminal court in Montgomery County. The mother of Robbie Middleton says after he died last year, it's the last piece of the puzzle.
"It's taught me the difference between a bad day and a really bad day," she said.
[...]
It was a case that never made it to trial on the criminal side of the Montgomery County Courthouse. Questions weighed down the case from the statute of limitations; two men investigators looked at were already in prison and there were concerns with Robbie's health and ability to testify.
But he did his best to tell the horrific story in one last deposition just before he died in 2011.

In Montgomery County, the DA handles adult criminal cases. The county attorney handles juvenile criminal cases.
"The question is can you charge him as an adult for an action that he committed as a child over a decade ago," Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said.

If the Texas Attorney General grants the request, it would give Ligon the ability to pursue the case against the defendant, who was a teen at the time of the crime.
"Would it be important for a victim? I think it would always be important for a victim to have a day in court, I think it would be important for the family to have the case aired before a jury," Ligon said.

A Fayette County jury awarded the family $150 billion in a civil case last year and found Don Collins, a man already serving time for aggravated sexual assault of another boy, liable for Robbie's death.
"Now that Robert's not here, I worry that Montgomery County is going to feel like it's not worth the time and the effort because it's not going to change anything," Middleton said.
Middleton is about to face the first anniversary of life without her son. She says he always hoped to see justice. Now she will carry that forward.

"It's the last open-ended thing I need to do to get justice, then I think Robert can rest in peace and I can do something else with my life, move forward," she said.
A decision could be made by the Texas Attorney general in the next 120 days.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?se...cal&id=8634675

[Jerri Blank]

A decision could be made by the Texas Attorney general in the next 120 days.

I was about to post a new article, but it is basically just a bunch of crap excuses and BS, oddly it seems to have been posted about 120 days after this one, with no resolution. Here is the link any way..

AG: Up to county to seek trial in boy’s burning

[...]County Attorney David Walker said he hopes to meet with District Attorney Brett Ligon Monday to discuss whether to go forward with the case.[...]

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/couri...8d3a22f10.html

...Wow, unfucking believable.

[AngelFire]

Kill the bastard. He serves no purpose alive. Kill him and make him into fertilizer. No sense in being born if you have no purpose in life. This way he will also be fertilizer aside from rapist and murderer.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Charges finally filed!


Don Collins at 13

Montgomery County prosecutors agreed Tuesday to finally seek the justice that Robbie Middleton, severely disfigured from being set on fire as a boy, had so desperately wanted before he died last year.

County attorney David Walker filed court documents Tuesday in juvenile Judge Kathleen Hamilton's court that officially accuse 27-year-old Don Collins of murdering Middleton.

In addition, Walker has asked the judge to transfer the murder case from her court to district court so that Collins, who was age 13 at the time of the assault, can be prosecuted as an adult.

Walker must now provide evidence at a hearing before Hamilton that Collins doused Middleton with gasoline and set him ablaze when he walked down a wooded path on his eighth birthday in 1998. Walker must also explain the reason for the long delay in bringing charges.

The belated filing has sparked constitutional questions about the legality of charging someone who is an adult for crimes allegedly committed when they were a juvenile.

A medical examiner has ruled that 20-year-old Middleton's death was a homicide. That's because he succumbed to a type of cancer that can only come from enduring hundreds of painful skin grafts for serious burns.
[...]

Three years after Middleton was tied to a tree and set on fire, Collins was convicted of sexually assaulting another 8-year-old boy.

In addition, Collins was recently released from prison after serving time for failing to register as a sex offender.
[...]

To keep attention on her son's case after his death, Middleton's parents won a $150 billion civil judgement against Collins for the wrongful death of their son.

Collins was then in prison and did not attend the civil trial. Middleton testified by a videotape recording before he died in which he not only accused Collins of setting him on fire but also disclosed for the first time that he'd been sexually assaulted, too.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a ruling Friday that declined to rule on the constitutional questions involved with the belated charges, leaving it up to prosecutorial discretion.

Walker foresees the possibility of a constitutional challenge by whomever represents Collins.

"This case could end up making some new case law," Walker said. Collins is being notified by a summons of the pending proceedings in Hamilton's court. A warrant won't be issued for his arrest unless his case is moved to district court and a grand jury there indicts him, Walker said.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...ct-3874926.php


Robbie Middleton before he was set on fire in '98 and after in 2009.

[Chinchillazilla]

This is the most horrific kind of "cover-up." Frankly, it would have been better to just cut the poor kid's throat after raping him, if you thought you had to kill him. I guess he thought burning would both kill him and destroy DNA evidence of the rape. I just don't understand why you'd burn him ALIVE. I can get into a murderer's head long enough to understand why he'd want to kill him, but not that part. I wish he could get the chair.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Montgomery County attorney David Walker had been fretting about a legal challenge he could soon face in court: How would he explain his decision last month to file murder charges against Don Collins, 27, for a crime he allegedly committed when he was 13?

Why did authorities wait so long to charge Collins in connection with the death of Robbie Middleton, who the suspect allegedly torched with gasoline in 1998?

Walker now thinks he has found a solution - charging Collins with a different crime. He has seized upon the deathbed declaration that Middleton, Collins' neighbor, made shortly before he died last year.

In the 27-minute videotaped statement, Middleton for the first time publicly accuses Collins with sexually assaulting him. He states this happened two weeks before Collins accosted him as he walked down a wooded trail on his eighth birthday near Splendora, doused him in gasoline, tied him to a tree and set him ablaze.
[...]

Walker said the belated outcry about the sexual assault provides the motivation behind Collins allegedly torching Middleton.

"It was done to prevent Middleton from talking," Walker said. "It provides the bridge that we needed for the delay, rather than saying we didn't have sufficient staffing or something else."

So Walker has dismissed the murder petition he had filed against Collins seeking to have his case transferred from juvenile to district court and plans to refile it as a felony murder. This charge requires the murder to have occurred in conjunction with the commission of another offense - in this case the alleged sexual assault.

Middleton's mother, Colleen, who has been pushing for justice for her son, was told about the murder petition being dismissed again as it was once years ago, but does not feel her son's case is being neglected as it was then.

"Our lawyers see this is a strategic move, one that is moving in the right direction," she said.

She said her son had never felt comfortable about telling her of the sexual assault, but had revealed it to his older sister two years before the videotape made it public.

In addition, she noted that three years after her son was set on fire that Collins, at age 16, was convicted of sexually assaulting another 8-year-old boy who also happened to be named Robert.

Her attorney, Craig Sico, supported the prosecution's efforts.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...ng-3951119.php

[Killroy]

Splendora, TX – Robbie Middleton, a 20-year-old man who had been struggling most of his life with burns sustained in a 1998 attack, taped a video just prior to his death in April 2011.* In it, he accuses Don Collins, who was 13-years-old at the time of the incident, not only with setting him ablaze, but also raping him two weeks prior to the debilitating attack.
Middleton was celebrating his eighth birthday back in 1998, walking a forest path on his way to a friend’s house, when he encountered Collins, who allegedly tied him to a tree with fishing line, threw a cup of gasoline on his face, and lit him on fire.* Middleton was able to free himself, but only after the heat of the blaze had melted the lines securing him.* His burns, as you might imagine, were traumatic, leaving him permanently disfigured and without eyelids.
Though Collins was detained right after the attack, he was never formally charged due to a lack of evidence to make a conviction likely.* Though there was no criminal case, Middleton’s family was eventually awarded $150 billion (that’s not a typo) in a civil lawsuit against Collins.* That’s the largest civil lawsuit settlement in U.S.…

This article was written by PetePuma for The Dreamin Demon - the Internet's self-appointed buzzkill.


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