Jail Vows: For Better or for Worse

ROBINSON

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 7/29/2012 at 13:04:57

Quad-City Times, July 28, 1998

Jail Vows: For Better or for Worse

Murder Suspect Weds in cellblock
By Doug Schorop, Quad City Times

MAQUOKETA, Iowa- The newlyweds kissed through the jail bars and will obviously have to wait to take their honeymoon. Robert Robinson, 55, of Fulton, Illinois, whom authorities have questioned in connection with a Clinton homocide, was married in his cell Monday by Jackson County Magistrate, Ken Wright. "He pronounced them man and wife," Jail Administrator Jerry Manning said. "Robinson kissed her one time through the bars. She never was in the cell. I think the whole thing didn't take five minutes. It was quite a wedding day. He still is in his cell and she left. But she seemed awful happy." Manning said Robinson has been in jail on burglary charges since April. He said Robinson married a woman with whom he had been living with for some time before his arrest. Robinson stayed in his cell during the brief ceremony. The bride, Wright and Manning, who served as witness, stayed outside the cell, as did a civil administrator at the jail who also served as a witness. (Robinson) had been pushing for it for a month," Manning said of the wedding. "He really wanted to get married real bad. He asked me, and I asked the Sheriff, and he asked the County Attorney about it. "I think it is their right. They have a right to get married. It is pretty unusual. We've had a couple of jail weddings in the 26 years I've been here." Robinson has been questioned in connection with the slaying of Clinton car dealer Tom Tague. Tague, 68, of LeClaire, owner of Clinton Car Company was found shot to death at his business shortly after 8 a.m., April 20. Robinson was picked up in McClean County, Illinois, a few days after the slaying on a traffic violation near Normal, Illinois and an outstanding Jackson County warrant for second-degree burglary was discovered. Clinton police twice traveled to Normal to interview him. Although it was the first time Wright presided over a wedding ceremony in a jail, it was no big deal. "It's the same script as all the others," he said.