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CCL 'Elation': Court papers filed in McGill murder

jleq

By jleq,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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AZ Karaoke Girl

AZ Karaoke Girl

Posted
Posted
Anyone can plead whatever they want.......doesn't mean squat nor does it diminish our system........

 

No but it wastes our taxpayer money plus the numerous appeals he'll file when he's found guilty. Sorry but I had a brother-in-law murdered so I'm kind of sensitive to this stuff.

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Kurbanfan

Kurbanfan

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Posted
No but it wastes our taxpayer money plus the numerous appeals he'll file when he's found guilty. Sorry but I had a brother-in-law murdered so I'm kind of sensitive to this stuff.

 

Yes but isn't it nice to know we all have a right to a fair trial;)

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AZ Karaoke Girl

AZ Karaoke Girl

Posted
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Yes but isn't it nice to know we all have a right to a fair trial;)

 

The trial I sat thru was not fair from my viewpoint. The victim shot in the back 5 times and he claimed self defense = do the math. The victim had zero rights cuz he wasn't there to testify cuz he was dead. The accused had all the rights in the world and anything he said had to be considered the truth cuz he was the only living witness - even though it was clear he was lying. I just look at it as though if we treated everyone as guilty until proven innocent, we'd have a better society. Eye for an eye. Hang em high.:D

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cruisinchuckeee

cruisinchuckeee

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FEDERAL COURT — It had been a long day of drinking for Robert John McGill, and by all accounts, he looked it.

Documents filed in federal court in San Diego as part of the murder case against McGill give more details about the hours before Shirley McGill was killed aboard a cruise ship.

The accounts, drawn from prosecution and defense papers, also say Robert McGill confessed several times, in writing and verbally, that he beat his wife to death.

On July 14 — Robert McGill's 55th birthday — the Los Angeles couple left the Carnival Cruise ship Elation and headed into the resort town of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. They met up with another couple, and that's when the drinking began.

When they got back to the ship sometime between 2:40 and 3:30 p.m., McGill was “extremely intoxicated,” according to federal court papers. One of his companions said McGill was “stumbling around and could barely walk.”

The party split up when they got to the ship. Robert and Shirley McGill headed to their cabin, R-24.

Between 6:30 and 7 p.m., the same couple who had been with the McGills in the town — a man and woman identified in court papers only as “the Cabo Couple” — found Robert McGill sitting on one of the ship's decks, smoking a cigar.

They ordered a bucket of beers and sat down with him. Then they noticed the back of McGill's hand was bleeding. They asked where Shirley was and McGill eventually told them she was back in the cabin, “not OK.”

The woman went to the cabin and knocked on the door. She had a ship steward telephone the McGills' cabin, but there was no answer. She then went back to Robert McGill to try to get a key from him, but he didn't have one.

Apparently alarmed, the woman again asked McGill if his wife was OK. “No, she's dead,” McGill told the woman, according to court papers. “She's dead. I killed her.”

A ship security official, alerted by the woman, came to McGill and spoke to him.

“Life is mystery,” McGill replied, according to papers filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joanna Curtis. “Bring me to the brig or security office and check my cabin, R-24.”

When they went to the cabin, security used a master key to get in.

There they found Shirley McGill on the bathroom floor in a pool of blood.

Ship security workers later would describe Robert McGill as so intoxicated that he was “well into the red,” unable to focus, slurring his speech. At 1:30 a.m., five hours after Shirley McGill's body was found, a doctor checked on Robert McGill in the brig.

Curtis said McGill confessed to the doctor, then later to the chief security officer and the captain. McGill said his wife did not provoke the attack and he “claimed to not know why he did it,” Curtis wrote. McGill also allegedly wrote out a confession, on a “pre-printed Carnival form.”

On July 16, FBI agents boarded the ship and McGill again confessed to them, according to court papers. Curtis said McGill also placed a telephone call to his son from the ship.

“Shirley's dead and I killed her,” McGill told his son, Curtis wrote in the court papers. “Is it on TV yet? I killed Shirley by accident, well not by accident. I'll tell you all about it.”

The Elation returned to San Diego, where McGill was charged with second-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

The couple were married in 2003. Robert McGill was employed by the Los Angeles County Office of Education and worked with at-risk teens at the West Valley Leadership Academy in Canoga Park.

Todd Burns, McGill's attorney, is arguing that evidence and statements collected by the cruise ship workers should be suppressed. Burns contends they were essentially acting as agents of the state but violated McGill's constitutional rights against self-incrimination when they questioned him and illegally searched his cabin.

Burns wanted to use voluntary intoxication as a defense. Burns said McGill was “falling-down drunk” July 14 and could not have formed the required legal intent to commit the crime. Curtis argued that such a defense could not be used for a second-degree murder charge.

At a hearing last week, U.S. District Judge Irma Gonzalez said such a defense could not be used and said she would hold a hearing on the other issues related to the ship's investigation.

Union-Tribune

Greg Moran: (619) 542-4586;

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Kurbanfan

Kurbanfan

Posted
Posted
The trial I sat thru was not fair from my viewpoint. The victim shot in the back 5 times and he claimed self defense = do the math. The victim had zero rights cuz he wasn't there to testify cuz he was dead. The accused had all the rights in the world and anything he said had to be considered the truth cuz he was the only living witness - even though it was clear he was lying. I just look at it as though if we treated everyone as guilty until proven innocent, we'd have a better society. Eye for an eye. Hang em high.:D

 

 

I don't have to do the math thank you;)

I never said life was fair........what happened to your brother in law sounds horrific and the trial itself..........

 

I hope you do know that not everyone arrested is guilty;) Those people don't have a right to a fair trial to prove thier innocence:confused: Should we just hang everyone high:confused:

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DocF

DocF

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The good thing is that he is being tried in a federal court. California is one of the few states that allows a diminished capacity defense for volutary stupidity, like getting drunk out of one's mind. Remember the "Twinky defense"?

 

He will get a serious sentence, I am sure. That is unless the judge decides that the investigation was seriously flawed and then she will let him off. I am always a bit worried about female judges in murder cases as they tend to not see the forest for the trees. (I know a couple of exceptions and they most assuredly were/are hanging judges.)

 

Anyway, his nether portions are Fescue and the prosecutor owns a large riding mower.

 

Doc

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G'ma

G'ma

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No but it wastes our taxpayer money plus the numerous appeals he'll file when he's found guilty. Sorry but I had a brother-in-law murdered so I'm kind of sensitive to this stuff.

 

I can understand how you might feel.

 

But, anger is no reason to overturn our constitutional right to a fair trial before a jury of our peers.....and our right to plead or not plead to the charges.

 

It seems silly sometimes....but it's not silly to the person being charged nor his lawyers, family and the system we have. It's not perfect....but it's better than just about anywhere else.

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AZ Karaoke Girl

AZ Karaoke Girl

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Well you all can thank your lucky stars that I won't be serving on any jury. They pretty much release me immediately when they hear what I have to say about our so called justice system. I like the eye for an eye justice. Get caught stealing - off with your hand. Rape - well you can guess how I feel about that.

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Cruzman

Cruzman

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Well you all can thank your lucky stars that I won't be serving on any jury. They pretty much release me immediately when they hear what I have to say about our so called justice system. I like the eye for an eye justice. Get caught stealing - off with your hand. Rape - well you can guess how I feel about that.

 

Hey, I'll say it for you. Permanently remove the offending member! There will be no repeat offense!

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  • 3 months later...
jayesouthworth

jayesouthworth

Posted
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McGill allegedly said he didn't know why he did it, telling one Carnival staffer that "life is a mystery." He's pleaded not guilty to a charge of second degree murder.

 

He'll find out just how mysterious life will be in prison--for the rest of his life. He'll have plenty of time to contemplate it. ;)

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