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Judge Warns Defendant About Antics As Trial Begins

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 11, 2008

Updated: 02/11/2008 04:24 pm

TAMPA - To the disruption of various court appearances, Robert Sinclaire Lee has cut himself with a smuggled razor and rubbed feces on his face.

Prosecutors maintain he is faking mental illness and hope to convict him this week on charges of attempted murder, robbery and aggravated assault.

Robert Lee

This morning, when court bailiffs retrieved Lee, 27, from a holding cell to bring him to the courtroom, they found feces in his jacket pocket. Circuit Judge Robert Foster warned Lee that his antics would not be tolerated. If he attempts to disrupt the court proceedings, the judge can have him removed. A closed-circuit television camera has been set up so, if need be, Lee can watch his trial from outside the courtroom.

After admonishing Lee, Foster asked bailiffs to attend to Lee's personal hygiene before the jury selection proceedings began.

"I can smell him up here," Foster said from the bench, about 15 feet away. "It's pretty strong."

In October 2006, prosecutors contend, Lee and an accomplice tried to rob the Panda Express restaurant in Temple Terrace. His accomplice held an employee at gunpoint outside the Chinese restaurant while Lee held other employees at gunpoint inside, Assistant State Attorney Dereck Capaz said.

Another employee returned from a delivery and fired his own gun at the accomplice outside, Capaz said. The accomplice ran.

When the delivery man went inside the restaurant, he and Lee exchanged gunfire, Capaz said. Lee was shot in a testicle. The employees were not injured.

In one of Lee's first court hearings, he smuggled the blade from a facial razor inside his mouth, Capaz said. He began to cut his wrist when court began.

Foster ordered that mental health experts evaluate Lee.

Before a competency hearing, where three doctors were expected to testify that Lee was competent, Lee sat in a holding cell at the courthouse, smeared feces on his face and licked it.

Lee was sent to Florida State Hospital, where doctors determined he was faking mental illness. In recorded phone calls, Lee was laughing about his pretending to be insane, Capaz said.

Lee's public defender, Ronnie James, declined to comment about the case or Lee's competency.

During the jury selection process, Lee sat silent. The proceeding was uneventful.

By 4:15 p.m. today lawyers had chosen the six jurors and two alternates who will hear the case. The trial is expected to begin Tuesday.
If convicted, Lee faces up to life in prison.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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