Background: Police vehicles parked outside a home on the 18700 Block of Holly Way in Harris County, Texas (KHOU/YouTube). Inset: Robert Babin (Harris County Sheriff”s Office).
A man accused of admitting to beating his mother with a hammer to the point where she could hardly breathe has seen his charges upgraded after she died.
Robert Babin, 24, has been charged with murder in the death of his mother, Lisa Babin, 61. He was originally charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but on July 29, that charge was upgraded to murder, according to Harris County court records.
Lisa Babin died nine days after the June 11 attack, Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported.
According to a bail order filed after Robert Babin’s arrest, he confessed to a friend on a gaming platform that he had assaulted his mother.
“I am in trouble and I need your help,” he allegedly began. “I just assaulted my mother with a hammer, I got angry, I don’t know what to do, I can’t go to prison. I have to get rid of the hammer and destroy the evidence before the police get there.”
“I don’t want to end up on Death Row,” Robert Babin went on, per the court document. “I hit her a few times on the head and the side. She’s barely breathing.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived to the backyard of the house on the 18700 Block of Holly Way to find the mother “barely breathing with serious bodily injuries.” It was reportedly the gaming friend who had called 911, but because he did not see Robert Babin’s alleged messages until two hours after they were sent, the woman was left to suffer for an extended period of time.
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The suspect told authorities he had “left his mother napping at the residence unhurt” and “claimed he had no idea what was happening,” court documents state. But the victim was unable to give her side of the story “due to [the] extent of injuries sustained.” She was reportedly “severely impaired, unable to speak.”
Harris County Sheriff’s Office Major Ben Katrib said in early July that initial signs were that the assault followed an argument between the two family members.
“A preliminary investigation indicated that there was some sort of verbal argument between the victim and her son, who’s 24 years old, when he became enraged and struck her with a hammer several times,” Katrib said, per KHOU.
“We believe that based on the information we have – that the suspect was even making attempts to conceal the crime,” he added. “But luckily, his friend did the right thing and called 911, and we were able to respond in time.”
Robert Babin’s charge would need to be upgraded to capital murder for him to be put on death row. He is being held in the Harris County Jail on a $350,000 bond.
