Florida Murder Suspect Offers a Guilty Plea for a Cheesesteak and a Pepsi but the Judge Says No

A blind, wheelchair-using murder suspect offered to plead guilty on 26 October in Tampa if a judge would hand him a Philly cheesesteak and a Pepsi, but the judge refused, and the murder trial continued without him.

Robert Kessler, 74, made the offer during jury selection in front of Hillsborough Circuit Judge Nick Nazaretian. He said he would enter an open plea 'to save the taxpayers' in exchange for a cheesesteak with onions and mayonnaise, fries, and a 20-ounce Pepsi. The result of that plea would have been a life sentence.

Nazaretian did not take the deal. 'I've never, in my almost 40 years, ever heard that request before,' he said, adding that trading food for a guilty plea would be 'wrong in a thousand ways'. He promised Kessler lunch that day regardless, just not that specific meal. Kessler declined and told the court to pick the jury.

A Five-Year Fight Over Competency

The exchange drew attention, but the facts underneath it are grim. Kessler is charged with first-degree premeditated murder and abuse of a dead human body in the 2021 killing of Stephanie Crone-Overholts, a 47-year-old mother of three from Erie, Pennsylvania. He has pleaded not guilty.

The case has been delayed for years by questions over whether Kessler was mentally fit for trial. He has sat in jail for nearly five years. Prosecutors say Crone-Overholts was staying at his home in Lutz, having met him at a McDonald's car park, when she was killed.

The Defendant Who Changed His Mind

Kessler initially shunned the public defender who had represented him throughout, choosing to act as his own lawyer after a doctor declared him competent. That decision did not hold. By the time testimony began on 27 October, he had allowed attorney Maria Dunker back onto his case, then told the court he no longer wanted to be present and was escorted out.

The judge warned Kessler that staying outside the courtroom would prevent him from helping his lawyer. He said jurors would be instructed not to hold his absence against him. The trial opened without him. Prosecutor Scott Harmon outlined the state's case, alleging that Kessler stabbed Crone-Overholts four times in the neck before dismembering her body. Dunker countered that the evidence did not establish who killed her or when she died.

A Victim, Not a Punchline

Crone-Overholts was identified through a leg tattoo of three hearts bearing her sons' names. Prosecutors allege Kessler stabbed her, cut her body into at least seven pieces, and scattered the remains in McKay Bay near downtown Tampa in November 2021.

Witnesses reported seeing a man matching Kessler's description throwing bags and bins into the water. According to investigators, DNA testing matched blood found on his shoes, kitchen cabinets, and a mattress to Crone-Overholts.

The Stakes at Trial

Kessler was arrested on a second-degree murder charge in 2021, which a grand jury later raised to first-degree murder. If convicted, he faces a mandatory life sentence. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The judge said a guilty plea would leave no room for a different sentence, despite his request.