Son suing over dad's death by poisoning

The gruesome death of Jim Robinson nearly 40 years ago to the day was replayed Tuesday in a Mesa County courtroom in a wrongful death suit being pursued by Robinson’s son. Matt Robinson of Grand Junction is suing Meeker sheep rancher Nick Theos for damages related to his father’s death, which was attributed decades later to exposure to thallium, a poisonous element used in the 1950s and 1960s for a variety of purposes, from killing insects to coyotes. Nick Theos frequently used thallium to kill coyotes and other predators, Matt Robinson’s attorney, Keith Killian, told a jury of five women and two men during opening statements Tuesday. No witnesses, however, ever saw Theos administer thallium to Jim Robinson, Killian acknowledged. His case in that regard is circumstantial, he said. Opposing attorneys pointed out that Robinson himself was selling thallium to Meeker-area ranchers at the time he began showing symptoms of the illness that ultimately killed him. But Theos had carried on a long-term affair with Robinson’s wife, Lois, and married her after Jim Robinson died, Killian said. Nick and Lois Theos also actively opposed efforts by Matt Robinson to exhume his father’s body, and Nick Theos once threatened Rio Blanco County Sheriff Si Woodruff as he investigated the death of Jim Robinson, Killian said. The findings made by Dr. Robert Kurtzman, a pathologist and former Mesa County coroner, suggest a long-term exposure, then a “killing dose” of thallium was administered to Jim Robinson, Killian said...GrandJunctionSentinel