Court to hear convicted serial killer’s appeal

TOPEKA – The Kansas Supreme Court will hear arguments involving the appeal of a convicted serial killer who stuffed the bodies of several victims into barrels.

The state’s high court on Tuesday was expected to hear legal challenges involving the case of 71-year-old John E. Robinson.

The Olathe man was convicted and sentenced to die in 2003 in Kansas for the deaths of 27-year-old Suzette Trouten, of Newport, Michigan, and 21-year-old Izabela Lewicka, of West Lafayette, Indiana.

He also received a life sentence in Kansas for the murder of a woman whose body was never found. He also was sentenced to life terms in Missouri after pleading guilty to five other killings.

Robinson is raising dozens of issues on appeal, including the denial of numerous motions to suppress evidence at trial.