Disbarred Manvel lawyer no stranger to death

June 1, 2010 11:58 am Greg May wrote:

Shawn Roberts

The Texas Rangers and other authorities are investigating the deaths of four people close to disbarred Manvel attorney Shawn Roland Roberts.

Roberts, who was disbarred last year for professional misconduct related to drug use, was at the scene of each death, according to police.

He's being treated as a witness in the April 14 death of his wife, Amanda Linscomb, who police believe died of an overdose.

The Texas Rangers are assisting with the case and also probing the deaths of Tara Sganga, a girlfriend of Roberts whose body contained numerous drugs when she died in March 2007; Steven Blackshear, Roberts' roommate who died from acute toxicity in March 2009; and Roberts' mother, Sandra Roberts, who shot herself in August 2009.

Roberts is in the Harris County jail on several drug charges, including a charge of delivery of a controlled substance via injection related to Sganga's death.

A Brazoria County grand jury reviewed the deaths of Blackshear and the mother, but found no evidence of foul play.

Harris County prosecutors filed the delivery charge in August 2009, after a grand jury declined to indict Roberts on a murder charge.

Roberts' attorney, Mark Bennett, said that prosecutors have no evidence that Roberts injected Sganga with drugs.

“The (drug) charge is driven in part by a very upset family who wants Shawn held responsible for their daughter's death,” Bennett said.

As far as Roberts' involvement in the other deaths, Bennett said people involved in drugs will likely have people around them die. Asked if that meant Roberts was a drug user, he said, “I don't have an answer for that.”

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