WOODLAND — Yolo County prosecutors are still weighing whether to pursue the death penalty against a West Sacramento father charged with murdering his three young children.
“We’re still gathering evidence and deliberating on that,” District Attorney Jeff Reisig said Friday morning following a brief court appearance for Robert William Hodges, 32.
Hodges’ attorney, meanwhile, issued a statement saying the death penalty would be inappropriate for his client, given his lack of criminal history and court testimony indicating “he simply snapped due to his deteriorating mental health condition.”
“While the deaths of Mr. Hodges’ children are immensely tragic, his actions were the product of the mental breakdown of an individual who was otherwise described as a loving father,” Supervising Deputy Public Defender Ron Johnson wrote in an email to The Davis Enterprise.
“I hope that Mr. Reisig makes this decision wisely and spares the family and the community the emotional toll that a lengthy death penalty trial would impose on them.”
Hodges did not enter a plea at Friday’s arraignment, which came two weeks after a preliminary hearing where Yolo Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg ruled there was sufficient evidence for Hodges to stand trial on three counts of premeditated first-degree murder, as well as the attempted murder of his wife.
Prosecutors also filed several special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders and lying in wait, which qualify Hodges for either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
West Sacramento police officers testified at the Oct. 20 preliminary hearing that financial woes motivated the Sept. 13 crimes. Hodges allegedly killed his three children — Kelvin, 11; Julie, 9; and Lucas, 7 months — while their mother Mai Sheng Vang was at work.
Hodges also intended to kill Vang and then himself, planning the deaths for about a year, investigators said.
“He felt this was the best way to eliminate the entire family, and it would take care of all of their problems,” said Eric Palmer, the West Sacramento police detective to whom Hodges gave a full confession.
According to Palmer, Hodges killed the children from youngest to oldest, finding the acts “so physically draining” he took breaks with his iPad in between in order to recover. Lucas was choked and smothered by hand, Julie and Kelvin strangled with a belt.
He tried strangling Vang from behind when she returned home from work, but released her when she turned around to face him, Palmer said. Hodges then fled in the family car but was apprehended later that night.
Vang discovered her children’s bodies as a neighbor called 911 to report the assault on her.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
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Officer: Money problems motive for West Sac children’s deaths
Officer: Money problems motive for West Sac children’s deaths