Biography
Robert "Bobby" Skinner was a Black community organizer in Tucson, Arizona — active in educating his people but, by The Black Panther's account, not a member of any organization — whom local police had reportedly threatened ("We're going to get you"). He was one of four men charged in the October 3, 1969 Crown Liquors hold-up killing. The report attributes the dismissed jail sodomy allegation to his co-defendant Donnell Thomas, not to Skinner. He went to trial, was convicted of first-degree murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The case rested on a statement attributed to a one-eyed, heroin-using witness, Lucius Sorrell, whom the State had had declared incompetent to testify; prosecutor Horton Weiss. Police claimed the defendants were Black Panthers, which The Black Panther (April 17, 1971) said was false. Documented in The Black Panther.
The original report names him Robert Lee Skinner, also called Bobby. It says Skinner and Paul Wright were initially released after a preliminary hearing and later rearrested, but does not give the individual custody dates. The report’s dismissed jail sodomy allegation concerns co-defendant Donnell Thomas, rather than Skinner. The Arizona Supreme Court’s November 7, 1973 opinion confirms his full name and concurrent life and eight-to-ten-year sentences. The court dates the underlying killing October 4, 1969, while the contemporary newspaper says October 3; this is a source conflict about the offense date, not evidence of an arrest or admission on either day.
Original contemporary source 1 ; Original contemporary source 2.
