The Undercover Idiot

Cortez sits in Montezuma County in south-western Colorado, near Four Corners and seven hours' drive from Denver. this part of the story is covered for now

Lawrence Rignall Robinson Sr, known to everyone as Big Larry, was 36. He lived on a hill outside Cortez, on land overlooking juniper and sagebrush, in an eight-sided house he had built himself. His son, Lawrence Rignall Robinson Jr, known as Little Larry, was 17 and lived with him, Big Larry having divorced several years earlier. A third man, Lawrence Hogan, 37, also stayed in the house. details of the account remain covered until revealed Fish came from a well-off Cortez family; his father Byron owned a construction company that did municipal work.

Big Larry was widely liked but was believed to deal in narcotics and dangerous drugs, and the sheriff's department had opened an investigation. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed The plan was for Fish to introduce an undercover officer, Bill McCash, to Big Larry so that McCash could buy drugs. Officer Jim Kindle told Fish that in a way he was working for them. Fish began carrying a .22 pistol after McCash warned him that things could get dangerous and told him to keep a gun handy, and on 5 January 1982 Kindle again encouraged him.

At 4.11 a.m. on 11 January 1982 Fish telephoned the justice building switchboard in Cortez and asked for officers and an ambulance, saying there had been shots fired and some people killed. He could not give the address, though he had lived there for a year, and at 4.17 he called back to describe the house, the octagonal one on the hill. Officer Brent Powell arrived at 4.21. He found Fish doubled over and breathing hard, and was directed to a bedroom where Big Larry lay in bed, shot in the head with a .22 and with a weak pulse. He died of the wound. In another bedroom were the bodies of Little Larry and of Fish's younger brother, Joseph Albert 'Bert' Fish, 17. Little Larry had been shot with both a pistol and a shotgun and showed signs of a struggle. Bert's death was never explained.

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this part of the story is covered for now He was then taken to hospital for a blood sample. He was not read his rights until 6.15 a.m. At 7.30 Sergeant Chafin and Sheriff John Glazner interviewed him in a secretary's office in the basement of the justice building, recording on a primary and a backup machine; the backup captured more than the primary. Fish had asked whether he needed an attorney, and he later said one or both officers told him he did not. He talked freely because he believed he was still working undercover for the sheriff.

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now The prosecution's theory was that the Fish brothers had gone to the house to rob the Robinsons of drugs and money. Fish said the Robinsons had learned he was working with the sheriff and that he fired in self-defence after they killed his brother. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed The second statement should have been suppressed as well, so a retrial was ordered without his statements. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed