Convicted murderer Steven Kellam asks for new trial

A Dover man convicted of ordering a double homicide in January 2014 is asking for a new trial after a key witness wrote the judge recanting his testimony and asking for his attorney to be removed.

Steven Kellam, 37, is asking for a new trial because his attorney, Patrick Collins, said witness Richard Robinson recanted his testimony. Subsequently, Robinson wrote letters to Delaware Superior Court Judge T. Henley Graves stating he was coerced into giving false testimony against Kellam and asked that his attorney, John Deckers, be removed.

Kellam is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of two first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Cletis Nelson and William Hopkins at a home on Harmons Hill Road in Millsboro. Prosecutors argued that Kellam directed a crime ring that robbed drug dealers, using family members to help him carry out the crimes. At trial, prosecutors Chris Hutchison and Martin Cosgrove argued Kellam was given information by Rachel Rentoul that Nelson had drugs and money at his home. With Kellam that evening were his cousins Robinson, Rhamir Waples, Shamir Stratton and Damon Bethea, all from the Camden/Philadelphia area, prosecutors say.

After Rentoul told them drugs and money were at the house, the group resolved to rob it, testimony shows. According to Stratton, who testified to being the getaway driver, Kellam handed Robinson, Waples and Bethea guns and when Stratton asked Kellam what to do with the guys in the house, Kellam told the group to kill them.

In December 2016, Robinson took a guilty plea to charges of second-degree murder, racketeering, weapons, burglary and conspiracy, and agreed to testify against his co-defendants. At trial, Robinson refused to testify against Waples, his brother, but he did testify against Bethea and Kellam.

Following Kellam’s trial, Robinson was waiting to be sentenced, facing 25 years to life in prison. In November 2017, Robinson wrote a letter to Collins, saying that the prosecution team and lead detectives on the case, Fred Chambers and Jerry Windish, told him to lie in his statements and testify under oath.

“The thought of me getting on the witness stand and untruefully (sic) testifying on my brother Rhamir Waples and my cousin Steven Kellam it is playing with my conscious,” Robinson wrote. “My little brother Rhamir Waples and my cousin Steven Kellam are Innocent and is incarcerated on my behalf.”

Robinson wrote that the prosecution team lied to him and used his young daughter against him in order to give statements implicating Kellam in the murders. He wrote that Kellam did not order him to kill Nelson and Hopkins or to participate later in attempted home invasions of Azel Foster and Milton Loffland.

Robinson said in his letter to Collins that he intends to take back his plea and go to trial. He called the judicial system corrupt, and wrote that the state used his status as a poorly educated man as bait to lie about Kellam and Waples.

“I wasn’t in my right state of mind, and I’m a very emotional person,” he wrote. “The state used that to coerce me into giving false statements and testimony.”

According to court documents, Collins asked Deckers for permission to interview Robinson about his letter, but Deckers refused. Robinson wrote another letter to Collins in which he said Deckers believed Robinson was being threatened into writing his letter, which Robinson denied.

On Dec. 28. Robinson wrote a letter to Graves asking for Deckers to be removed from his case and requested new counsel.

In light of Robinson’s letter and attempts to recant his testimony, Collins has asked for a new trial for Kellam. Collins said Robinson was the key witness in the prosecution’s case against Kellam, but that his accounts of the night of the murders have been wildly inconsistent, lending credence to the idea that he was not being truthful.

Collins said he believes it is reasonably probable that Robinson gave police and prosecutors whatever they needed in order to get out of his situation. He said the jury may have reached a different conclusion without Robinson’s testimony. Collins said the defense did not know Robinson may have made false statements until after Kellam’s trial was over.

Besides a new trial, Collins is also asking for an evidentiary hearing in order to determine whether there is factual support for Robinson recanting his testimony.

In their response, Hutchison and Cosgrove say Robinson’s letters and attempts to recant his testimony are motivated by pressure from his family and a familiar face who just moved into Robinson’s tier at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center - Kellam.

According to the prosecutors, Robinson has repeatedly faced threats from inmates for his cooperation in the case. During calls with his mother from jail, Hutchison and Cosgrove say, Robinson stated he never wanted to testify against his brother, Waples, only against Kellam.

On Nov. 23, during another call, they say Robinson told his mother Kellam had been moved into the same tier at the prison. Court records state Robinson allegedly told his mother Kellam was telling people that Robinson and Waples had committed the murders alone. During that call, prosecutors say, Robinson and his mother stated that Kellam had given the order to kill Hopkins and Nelson. During another Nov. 23 call, Robinson told his mother Kellam had sent a note saying he was sorry, claiming he had “beat charges 100 times.”

Six days later, Nov. 29, Robinson sent a letter to Graves and Collins saying Kellam and Waples were innocent and the state had caused him to lie.

Cosgrove and Hutchison said the actions of Robinson clearly suggest that he is being manipulated by Kellam and Waples. They say the recantation letter is suspicious because it is not in the form of an affidavit and uses language that Robinson does not typically use. They say Kellam has been known to manipulate witnesses, with Stratton in particular being the subject of death threats. Cosgrove and Hutchison said Robinson’s version of events at trial matched up with those of Rentoul, Stratton and Bethea, who testified in his own defense in his trial.

The prosecutors are asking for Kellam’s motion for a new trial be denied.