Suspect in sister’s death says rights denied

Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004 | 11:25 a.m.

The man accused of shooting his sister in front of her daughter's Green Valley elementary school complained to a Henderson judge this morning that authorities had violated his rights.

At his arraignment, 54-year-old Robert Charles Lamb told Henderson Justice Rodney Burr that his "rights have been denied" and that he wouldn't have known what he was being charged with if his public defender hadn't told him.

"I knew nothing for three days," said Lamb in an emotional voice, his thin, 5-foot-11-inch frame shaking slightly.

Henderson Police had noted in Lamb's arrest report that during their initial interview of Lamb he told them that he would have to look at his license to know his name. He clearly spelled it for the judge in this morning's appearance.

Lamb's public defender, Robert Amundson, declined to comment on Lamb's statements or Lamb's mental stability.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 8 at 9:30 a.m. in Burr's courtroom. Lamb remains jailed with no bail set.

Lamb is accused of murder with a deadly weapon in connection with the shooting of his sister, 49-year-old Susan Bivans, outside of Warren-Walker Elementary School on Windmill Parkway early this month. Bivans had just dropped her 6-year-old daughter off at the school.

Lamb may have killed his sister because he believed she had talked their father into writing Lamb out of his will, according to police reports. He allegedly previously made threats against Bivans and she had taken out a temporary restraining order against him in 2002.

Police found numerous handguns, ammunition and writing about "how to kill a human being successfully, as well as adversarial typewriting about Lamb's relationship with his sister" during a search of Lamb's apartment and vehicle, according to the arrest report.