The only good part of this story is that at least Texas tax payers will not have to pay for the lengthy capital murder trial, appeals, incarceration on Death Row for the next 12-20 years, and the eventual execution of this cop-killer:

LINDEN — The suspect in the fatal shooting of a Department of Public Safety trooper killed himself in East Texas on Thursday as authorities closed in on his location, DPS said.

Brandon Wayne Robertson, 37, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound just outside of Linden in Cass County. DPS said that authorities had been tracking him with the help of calls he made to 911 and calls to a tip line.

Robertson, a former police officer, was named in a capital murder warrant in the death of Trooper James Scott Burns, 39, who was killed Tuesday night after pulling over a car near Lake O’ The Pines in East Texas.

Burns didn’t have a chance to remove his seat belt as he stopped his patrol car, just before being shot multiple times with a shotgun, authorities said. A passer-by later used the trooper’s radio to call for help.

Robertson was out on bail from an earlier drug possession charge — I’m betting that when Trooper Burns pulled Robertson over he had a significant amount of illegal drugs in his possession again. Combine that with the loaded weapon(s) he was obviously carrying, and Robertson knew he was going straight to prison.

Not a good thing for a former cop. So the coward shot the trooper and then killed himself.

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 | Trackback |