A Connecticut man will spend nearly 30 years in prison for abducting at gunpoint and then murdering a Massachusetts man on Christmas Eve 2020.
U.S. Connecticut District Judge Omar A. Williams sentenced Calvin “Cutty” Roberson, 41, of Waterbury, Conn., to 29 years in prison for his role in abducting at gunpoint Francisco Roman, Jr., from his home in Chicopee, shooting him to death and then burning his remains in Connecticut.
Roberson pleaded guilty in federal court in Hartford to conspiracy to commit kidnaping, and causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm.
A co-defendant, Brandon “B” Batiste, 36, of Chicopee, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to 42 years in prison in December. Batiste was the planner of the kill, according to documents, and had enlisted Roberson, who he had befriended when they were in jail together, according to court documents.
“The brutality of the murder is striking,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.
“After having accomplished the robbery, Roberson chose to continue with Batiste’s plan to murder Roman instead of letting him go,” the memo continues. “Roberson had many opportunities to put a stop to the murder, particularly when the first two attempts failed, and again after the robbery was accomplished. But Roberson willingly chose to go along with the plan to end Francisco’s life.”
According to court documents, Batiste and Roberson on Dec. 24, 2020, had a co-conspirator lure Roman to her apartment where the pair laid in wait for him. The plan didn’t work the first few times, but on Christmas Eve, Roman came and they were ready.
The pair ambushed him, handcuffed him and threw him into the trunk of his own 2010 Acura ZDX crossover. They then went to Roman’s Chicopee apartment and stole several items, including a Gucci backpack and a PS5. Prosecutors say Roberson drove the Acura as Batiste followed in a rented car.
Then, as the clock turned into Christmas morning, the murderous pair drove the Acura south into Connecticut on Christmas. On a residential Hartford street, Roberson pulled the Acura over and Batiste opened the trunk and shot Roman. When they heard gurgles they did it all again.
Roman was shot at least three times: in his shoulder, his torso and his head.
They then stripped the car of its plates and parked it on a public street in Hartford. Crossing state lines made this a federal kidnapping resulting in death case and not a state-specific murder case.
The next day, according to the indictment filed July 28, 2021, Batiste alone burned the car with Roman’s remains still inside.
Another co-conspirator, Shamari Smith, who Roberson lived with in Waterbury, Conn., pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about what she knew in the deadly case. Prosecutors say she helped store and conceal Roman’s stolen property. She was sentenced on Oct. 13, 2023, to two years and a month in prison.
Prosecutors say that the plan to take Roman’s life began months before, in August 2020. It was then that Batiste, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo, began planning Roman’s kidnap and murder “in retaliation for a prior altercation they had resulting in Batiste suffering significant injuries.”
In preparation, the memo states, Batiste went to one of his girlfriends to meet Roman and buy marijuana from him. But it was really a surveillance operation: Batiste wanted to know what car Roman drove, where they met and what his license plate number was. With that information, Batiste and Roberson drove up and surveilled their target.