Times, the (Shreveport, LA)

Times, The (Shreveport, LA)

April 29, 2003

Stewart admits guilt in murder

Dateline: Coushatta, Louisiana

Plea agreement gives Coushatta man life sentence.

By Vickie Welborn

Times Mansfield Bureau

COUSHATTA - Less than a week after changing his plea to innocent in the April 2001 rape and murder of Wendi Long of Martin, Robert "Rocky" Stewart of Coushatta has changed his plea once again - this time, fully admitting his guilt in a plea arrangement hastily finalized Monday.

In exchange for his plea to first-degree murder, Stewart, 25, was immediately sentenced by Judge Lewis Sams to spend the rest of his life in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Stewart's plea removes the need for the August trial and does away with the prosecution's intent to seek the death penalty.

Built into the plea, however, is a clause that allows Stewart to appeal Sams' denial last year of a motion to throw out Stewart's confession, along with a supplement motion on the same subject that Sams denied in a court hearing Wednesday. If the Second Circuit Court of Appeal overturns Sams' rulings, District Attorney Bill Jones said he would take Stewart to trial and "go for the death penalty."

Even without the confession, Jones is confident he has a strong case against Stewart.

Jones said he offered Stewart the plea to help bring finality to the Long family and keep them from having to sit through an extended trial. He discussed his decision to take the death penalty off the table last week with family members. "Ultimately, the decision is ours, but in something like this we always weigh the family's feelings."

Luke Long, Wendi Long's father, said his family is satisfied.

"Personally, I think life in prison is just as bad. ... He'll have a long time to think about what he did," said Luke Long, who along with wife Karol, was surrounded by family members in the center section of the Red River Parish courthouse Monday afternoon.

With photographs of Wendi Long attached to their clothing, many in the group dropped their heads and quietly wept as Jones read into the record the scenario of events leading up to her death. Karol Long alternately rocked in her seat and shook her head as Jones said Wendi Long was shot twice in the head with a .25-caliber pistol that Stewart had showed to her and her two friends only hours earlier at his apartment.

Wendi Long's parents last saw her on April 13, 2001, after she left on a shopping trip to Shreveport that Easter weekend with two friends. Long ended up being stranded at a party after her two friends left in her vehicle. Stewart told Long he would take her back to Natchitoches to get her car.

That's the last time she was seen by anyone other than Stewart. Long's disappearance touched off a multiparish investigation and was featured on the national TV show Unsolved Mysteries.

But after seven months of denying any involvement in her disappearance and giving authorities detailed descriptions of possible suspects, Stewart ultimately confessed while incarcerated in Natchitoches on unrelated charges. He told authorities where to find her body along state Highway 1 in north Red River Parish. A bullet removed from her skull was matched to a .25-caliber revolver found north of the crime scene.

Stewart appeared unfazed Monday by his court appearance and answered succinctly to questions posed by Sams prior to offering his plea. He mouthed, "Hi, Mama," across the courtroom to where his mother, Pat Stewart, sat with two others as he entered the courtroom shackled and bound at the waist with restraints.

"Are you pleading guilty because you in fact are guilty?" asked Sams. "Yes, sir," Stewart answered clearly.

Dabbing away tears with a tissue, Pat Stewart said later no one was the winner Monday. "Drugs and alcohol have just ruined so many lives. Not just Rocky's, but for Wendi and Wendi's parents. Unfortunately, we can't change anything."

And though she's grateful her son's life was sparred, Pat Stewart said she now will worry about his well-being in the state prison. "But I'll never stop loving my son. I'll pray to the Lord every day. ... The Lord never lets us down and I know he loves me and my child."

Luke Long said Rocky didn't just kill his daughter. "He destroyed my life, and my wife's and my son's. Our lives will never be the same."