Robert Kessler is on trial in Tampa accused of murdering and dismembering a woman, and on the first day of jury selection he tried to settle the whole case for lunch. A Philly cheesesteak with onions and mayonnaise, an order of fries, and a Pepsi. And the Pepsi had to be 20 ounces.
That is Kessler in court on Monday, making the offer out loud. Judge Nick Nazaretian had just walked him through an open plea, where a defendant pleads guilty with no deal in place and lets the judge decide the sentence. Kessler, 74, said he would take it for the sandwich, and said the trade would save the taxpayers and save the jury a trial.
“I can’t obviously give food to people to enter a plea. That would be wrong in a thousand ways.”
Judge Nick Nazaretian, responding in court
Nazaretian said he had never heard a request like it in almost 40 years. He told Kessler he could guarantee him lunch that day, but he could not guarantee what it would be. Kessler dropped the offer and told the court to just pick the jury.
The case behind the sandwich order is as grim as it gets. Kessler is charged with first degree murder and abuse of a dead body in the 2021 death of Stephanie Crone-Overholt, a 47 year old mother of three. In November 2021, a human leg was spotted floating in McKay Bay in Tampa. A tattoo on the leg, three hearts with the names Sean, Greg and Zach, helped investigators identify her.
Prosecutors allege Kessler stabbed Crone-Overholt four times, including in the neck, and cut her body into at least seven pieces before putting her remains in the bay. He has pleaded not guilty, and his defense has argued there is a lack of evidence showing how she died or that he was the one who killed her. The charges are allegations, and this trial is where they get tested.
The trial took five years to get here. Kessler was first declared incompetent to stand trial and held in a psychiatric facility, then ruled competent in March 2025 after treatment. He is blind and uses a wheelchair, and he spoke for himself when the plea talk turned into a food order.
With no deal on the table, jury selection went ahead on Monday, with opening statements set for Tuesday. The sandwich is off the table. The murder charge is not.
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