Letter to prosecutor in sentencing hearing of bicyclist Robert Osborn

Letter from the Missouri Bicycle Federation to the prosecuting attorney in the sentencing of Raphael Willis for the murder of bicyclist Robert Osborn.

The prosecutor presented the letter to the judge as part of the evidence in the sentencing hearing and mentioned it in his summation.

Read about the results of the sentencing hearing here.

Major Crimes Unit
Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney
415 East 12th Street
Kansas City, MO 64106


RE: Sentencing hearing for Raphael Willis, 11 Dec 2008, for murder of Robert Osborn; on the heinous, atrocious, and cruel nature of the crime for our community


The Missouri Bicycle Federation is a coalition of bicycling, walking, running, and trails clubs, organizations, and individuals, representing over 20,000 individuals from every part of Missouri.

We represent the interests of those who bicycle and walk for recreation, health, and transportation, including over 500,000 citizens in the Kansas City metro area and 2 million Missourians who bicycle regularly.

The murder of Robert Osborn is of immense concern to our membership and to the bicycling community at large.

Our members walk and bicycle many hours and many miles on public roads. When we do so, we are defenseless against attacks such as those perpetrated by Mr. Willis and Mr. Brown.

The only possible defense against such senseless and random attacks is our justice system.

The very fact that this was a random attack, with no motive other than to hunt a person down and kill him for sport, is exactly what makes this crime heinous, atrocious, and cruel, in our viewpoint.

It is exactly this type of crime that strikes fear into the hearts of our members and of other members of the public who are considering bicycling and walking on the public streets and in public places like parks and trails.

The fear of been stalked and hunted, as Mr. Osborn was, or otherwise victimized by violent crime, leads many to forgo bicycling and walking in public areas.

The murder of Mr. Osborn has received regional, statewide, and even nationwide notoriety in the bicycling community as a particularly heinous example of violence against bicyclists.

This has a detrimental effect on the public good, far outweighing even the individual negative effect of this crime on Mr. Osborn and his family, because this fear affects tens and hundreds of thousands of individuals in the metro area who wish to walk and bicycle for health and transportation. Many citizens fear to do so because of the environment created by heinous acts such as the murder of Mr. Osborn.

There is no question but that the murder of Mr. Osborn reverberated through the bicycling community in Kansas City, affecting all who heard about the murder, and creating a climate of fear and intimidation.

The result of this fear, which incidents like the murder of Mr. Osborn greatly contribute to, is that people stay indoors, losing the benefits of healthy activity, fitness, community interaction, interaction with nature, and the mental, physical, and social benefits all of those bring.

These are the very benefits our members work hard and donate thousands of dollars annually to support.

All these positive things that help make up the fabric of a healthy society are destroyed by acts like this murder. This is particularly so because of the aggravating factors in this murder: the fact that the assailants stalked and hunted Mr. Osborn for sport, and the lack of any motive for the crime.

We ask that, in view of the heinous, atrocious, and cruel nature of this crime, that you make a strong appeal to Judge Daugherty, emphasizing the heinous, atrocious, and cruel nature of the crime, emphasizing its effect on the community at large, and asking for the maximum allowable penalty for Mr. Willis.

This will have these positive outcomes:

• deterring further unusual and heinous crimes of this sort
• keeping the defendant from repeating his crime for a longer period
• helping the entire community of bicyclists, which does feel victimized and made fearful by crimes of this nature, to feel that justice has been served and that the criminal justice system is working to protect law-abiding systems from particularly heinous and atrocious crimes such as this

Even if Judge Daugherty does not grant your request for the highest penalty, simply making the request and standing up vigorously in support of the innocent and defenseless bicyclist who was hunted down and killed, helps our community to feel that the justice system is working hard on its behalf and that the Prosecutor's Office is working proactively to make Jackson County a better, safer place to live.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Brent D. Hugh
Executive Director
Missouri Bicycle Federation
Raytown, Missouri