Convicted killer Barbara Ann Roberts has been awarded over two million dollars by a Cherokee County jury; that was the outcome of a civil trial last week against Rome attorney Steve Lanier – and needless to say Lanier has said he will appeal the decision. Roberts was awarded two million dollars in punitive damages – plus $60,000 in compensatory damages.

Barbara Ann Roberts is currently serving a life sentence with no chance of parole in connection with the 2006 slaying of her ex-husband’s new wife, Martha Darlene Roberts.

In the civil suit, she alleges that Lanier – and former Cherokee County attorney Rodney Stallings – took thousands of dollars from her and refused to either return an unearned portion or of taking more money than she had consented to.

Lanier, who is a former Rome District Attorney, vows to fight the verdict and firmly believes the decision will be reversed.

He said as an out-of-state attorney, he was required to work with an Alabama attorney, and that’s when he hired Rodney Stallings.  Lanier was admitted to the Alabama Bar while working on the Roberts’ case.

According to the Alabama State Bar, Rodney Stallings has, since that time, been disbarred and is currently facing two counts of Theft of Property 1st Degree in an unrelated case.

Barbara Ann Roberts was convicted in August, 2008 of the murder of Martha Darlene Roberts; a co-defendant – Dr. Robert John Scheiss III – pled guilty to a charge of Kidnapping in connection with that case and was sentenced to a period of three years behind bars.  He was released in early 2010.  Scheiss later took his own life at his mother’s home in Missouri.

In the wake of Darlene Roberts’ death, Barbara Ann Roberts’ ex-husband filed a wrongful death suit against the guilty parties and was awarded $30 million by a jury.

(Information provided in part by the Rome News-Tribune/www.northwestgeorgianews.com)