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Guity verdict in Dollar General murder trial

By Staff | May 6, 2008

Robert Haberlein

Robert Haberlein was found guilty Tuesday of the November 2005 murder of Robin Bell.

The jury in the trial, which began last Monday, returned a guilty verdict on all three charges – first degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery – against the 20-year-old Kansas City, Kan., man after three and half hours of deliberation.

The sentencing hearing for Haberlein is scheduled for 9 a.m., June 27, in the Division 4 of the Wyandotte County District Courthouse.

Haberlein was the first to be tried among three people charged with murdering Bell, a Tonganoxie resident who managed the Dollar General store at 612 130th St. in Bonner Springs. Bell was found dead in the store Nov. 12, 2005 and was killed by a blow to the head with a metal tripod.

A motion hearing for John Backus, 21, of Bonner Springs, has been scheduled for May 16. Backus’ trial had been set to start Monday, but he was assigned a new attorney, which necessitated the hearing. Amber Russell, 18, of Lenexa, is the other defendant, and has a deal with the Wyandotte County district attorney’s office that she will be charged as a minor – she was 15 at the time of the crime – in exchange for her truthful testimony in the trials of Haberlein and Backus.

Read Thursday’s Chieftain or the Web site for more details on the trial.