Killer seeks release from life sentence

St. Martinville – The Louisiana Pardon Board is set to hear a plea for pardon from 13 prisoners who were sentenced to life without parole for murder. Three of those inmates are from Acadiana area and one of those is Clifton Robin from Henderson.
Robin was sentenced to life in 1989, at the age of 23, after confessing to the robbery and murder of his friend Teddy Patin, 18, of Grand Anse. Patin’s body was found by hunters near a crawfish pond between I-10 and Potato Shed Road, on land owned by Robin’s father. He had been shot once in the back of the head. Robin and an accomplice, Raphael Lalonde, 28, of Arnaudville were arrested that same day.
An indictment was handed down in 16th Judicial Court in January, 1989 and trial was initially set for the following July. It was delayed by difficulty in the seating of a jury and by the firing by Robin of his original attorney Anthony Fontana. Wellborn Jack was hired as Fontana’s replacement.
Only four jurors had been selected when Robin changed his plea to guilty in a plea agreement in which the charge was reduced to 2nd degree murder. Judge Edward delaHoussaye III sentenced Robin in Oct. 1989, to “life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.”
By Louisiana law, a prisoner with a life sentence can apply for a commutation of their sentence after serving 15 years. Robin made the application and his request for a hearing was accepted. A three-member board will hear the appeal later this month.
The nature of the crime, time served, employment history, drug use and behavior behind bars are factors taken into consideration in deciding whether to pardon an inmate.
Relatives of victims are often shocked when the supposed life sentences of their loved ones’ killers are reconsidered. “I’m hurting so bad right now.” Gen Patin, mother of Robin’s victim, told the Teche News. “He came to my house before they found my son’s body. He hugged me and told me he was so worried Teddy was missing.”
Patin’s girlfriend was pregnant when he was killed. His daughter is now 28 years old and is taking the news of Robin’s possible release very hard, Gen Patin said. She and other family members will attend the hearing in Baton Rouge. “When they sentenced him to life, I never thought we would go through this. I just pray to God they don’t set him free.”