Judge imposes 110-year sentence on murderer

Robert Allen Lake was sentenced to 110 years in Montana State Prison on Wednesday after emotional testimony from the sisters and mother of the man he beat to death with a hammer in 2010.

One of the victim’s sisters called Lake “a despicable person” and another called him “a liar and a cold-blooded killer.”

Flathead District Judge Stewart Stadler delivered the sentence, telling Lake “there’s no more violent an offender than yourself.”

Stadler last week denied Lake’s request to withdraw his guilty pleas to felony deliberate homicide and tampering with evidence.

Lake, 22, claimed he thought he would be sentenced to 110 months, not 110 years, when he agreed to a plea agreement with the Flathead County Attorney’s Office.

Lake repeated those assertions toward the end of Wednesday’s sentencing hearing.

“I’m still not clear on what my charges are, what my rights are,” Lake said.

Stadler said Lake’s statements were “incredible,” adding later that they represented an “attempt to minimize punishment.”

Lake was among five people charged with felony crimes after the April 12, 2010, bludgeoning death of 49-year-old Wesley “Bubba” Collins in Kalispell. Lake admitted during a Feb. 14 hearing to beating Collins to death with hammers and said he was assisted by Jeffrey Nixon, who is scheduled to go to trial in July.

Lake and Nixon allegedly took marijuana, medications and other belongings from Collins’ home after the murder.

Flathead County Deputy Attorney Alison Howard asked four members of Collins’ family to testify Wednesday.

“It’s been almost a year since Bubba was brutally murdered and the pain and vivid dreams of what happened to him are just as vivid today as they were a year ago,” said Jean Collins, his mother.

Virginia Darsow, one of three sisters of Collins to testify, called the killing “heinous, vicious and savage.” In contrast, she said her brother was kind, gentle, giving and trusting.

“You scumbags took advantage of his trust,” Darsow said.

Darsow called Lake a “lazy pig” and said he wanted the things Collins had. She said she blamed him for the death of their father, who died two weeks after Collins was murdered. Likewise, she said Lake carried responsibility for the death of another of her brothers who committed suicide shortly thereafter.

After recounting the brutal nature of the murder, Darsow said the death penalty was “too good” for Lake. She asked that he be imprisoned without the possibility of parole.

“You are a lost cause, a despicable person who would do it again and again and again and again,” she said, pointing at Lake.

Kathy Collins testified that she was the last family member to see her brother alive. She had taken to a grocery store on the morning of the murder.

She took issue with Lake’s testimony on Feb. 14 that he had murdered Collins because Collins had stolen his rent money.

“You’re nothing but a liar and a cold-blooded killer,” she said. “I hate you and I have nothing to say to you.”

Carol Davies echoed the sentiments of her sisters.

“They’re predators,” Davies said of Lake and his co-defendants. “We feel if it hadn’t of been Bubba, it’d been someone else eventually.”

Lake’s attorney Christopher Abbott asked that Stadler refrain from placing any parole restrictions on Lake, who he said would spend a minimum of almost 28 years in Montana State Prison before becoming eligible for release.

Abbott said, “I don’t believe Mr. Lake is a monster” and referred to Lake’s mental health problems and documented chemical dependency.

After repeating his claims of ignorance, Lake said he wished there was a way to take back Collins’ murder.

“He was a very nice man and that should have never happened,” Lake said.

Stewart sentenced Lake to 100 years for deliberate homicide with a 10-year enhancement because a weapon was used. Lake received a 10-year sentence for tampering with evidence to run concurrent with the 110-year sentence. No parole restrictions were placed on the sentence.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to dismiss two counts of robbery, one connected to the murder and another filed after Lake allegedly robbed a casino at gunpoint in 2009.

Cody Naldrett, 28, is scheduled to be sentenced April 28 for allegedly helping Lake and Nixon hide Collins’ body in a wooded area off of Patrick Creek Road. A plea agreement recommends a nine-year sentence with all six months suspended.

Lake’s former girlfriend, Karrolyn Robinson, was sentenced to eight years in Montana Women’s Prison in December for deleting text messages from two cellphones that were evidence in the case.

Joshua Fritz accepted a plea agreement in October 2010 and pleaded guilty to felony tampering with evidence. He received a five-year suspended sentence.

Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com.