Killers' Sentences Leave Victims' Families Shocked

Smithfield, N.C. — The families of two people killed, dismembered and buried beneath a farmhouse near Selma are upset about the sentences the killers have received, but prosecutors say it’s the best they could do with the evidence they had.

On Monday, Robert B. Pollard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and his wife, Cecilia Louise Pollard, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 1997 slayings of Caesar Ortiz and Robin Clark.

Robert Pollard will serve eight to 10 years while his wife will serve five to seven years. Ortiz’s and Clark’s families were shocked about the sentence.

“I mean, how are you gonna shoot somebody in the back of the head, cut them up in pieces and get five years?” said Brenda Rodriguez-Herrera, Robin Clark’s sister.

The assistant district attorney said Robert Pollard, generally known as Bobby, had a viable claim of self-defense when he killed Caesar Ortiz. Louise Pollard claimed all along that Robin Clark committed suicide. The result was a plea bargain.

“We didn't have enough” physical evidence, Assistant District Attorney Ann Kirby said. “What was done to the bodies, as gruesome as it may be after the deaths, does not come into play.”

While the victims’ families are distressed, the district attorney’s office said a trial jury could have given the Pollards even less time out of sympathy for their emotional trauma. The Pollards lost two young children in a house fire in 1993.

When they died, Caesar Ortiz was 23 and Robin Clark 16. Clark was Louise Pollard’s niece.

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Latest Comments

I don't need a law degree to listen to what the judge tells the jury before deliberation. Where did you get yours smarty pants? You did not answer my question. Have you had a loved one violently killed and sat through the court proceedings stretched out over months? If you haven't suffered that then you have no right to tell me what I know and don't know.

InTheWind
February 21, 2007 6:34 p.m.

ok so now you know why justice has A blindfold on!!!!!!!

giepa
February 21, 2007 2:46 p.m.

This couple were friends of mine before the birth of their children. I sympathize with what they went through in the loss of those beautiful girls. But, that in no way justifies what they did. Self defense--no way--when it says both victims were shot in the back of the head. If I recall correctly, the wife confessed to a family member and the authories were brought in. Makes me wonder if there had not been argument leading to her leaving if this would have ever been discovered. My sympathies now go to the families of the victims. The plea bargaining and sentencing in this case a a joke and an insult to society.

sunshine
February 21, 2007 1:35 p.m.

A man was released from prison recently after having served 30+ years (??) for stealing a TV. Go Figure.

Last month a minister from Sanford received 5-6 years in prison for killing his wife in cold blood and then stuffing her body in the trunk of her car and leaving it on an abandoned road. He then went and preached at his church and told the congregation that his wife was home with a headache.

Now this. Our justice system is really an injustice system where victims receive less consideration than the criminals and we wonder why crime continues to increase.