Female judge rules US father must still take his children to visit their convicted murderer mother in jail - and bars him from moving home to Australia

Judge has ruled that Michael Roberts can not take his children with him to Australia as their murderer mother still has legal visitation rights

Tracey Richter was found guilty in October 2011 of killing her 20-year-old neighbour Dustin Wehde in 2001

Richter was hailed a hero in 2001 for apparently repelling a home invasion - which at the time Wehde was suspected of being a part of along with another man



Richter fired nine shots into Wehde - including three in the back of the head while he lay on the ground

Her children aged one and three were in the room next door at the time



Authorities always suspected Richter was not telling the truth

A judge has ruled a mother serving life in prison for murder must be allowed to regularly see her children - despite the wishes of their father who wants to leave the country and move to Australia with them to start a new life away from her.



Judge Nancy Whittenburg's order requires Michael Roberts to take his children from their home in California to visit Tracey Richter at the women's prison in Mitchellville, Iowa even though she is serving a prison sentence for executing her neighbour 11-years ago while they were in the room next door.



'Do you think Tracey cared about the children when she stashed them in the room 15 feet from where she fired 11 shots?' said Sac County Attorney Ben Smith today. 'She should have lost any and all rights to make those kinds of decisions or to have an influence in her kids' lives when she executed somebody.'

Tracey Richter is pictured during her first-degree murder trial in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The mother who is serving life in prison for killing a neighbor in 2001 has been granted continued visitation rights with her two minor children, who were present in the rural Iowa home during the execution-style slaying

In the ruling issued last week, Judge Whittenburg said Roberts cannot move to his native Australia with his 14-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl until Richter's appeals are exhausted, even though Roberts claims his temporary visa has already expired.



Sac County Attorney Ben Smith said Thursday that it is unbelievable Richter maintains parental rights after a jury convicted her of shooting 20-year-old Dustin Wehde at their home in Early in 2001 while the children – then 3 and 1 – were one room away.



Judge Whittenburg said the 14-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl have a 'long, positive history with their mother,' whom she called an excellent parent.

She said the visits will help 'bring closure to the sudden and traumatic events of the past year' in which Richter was arrested and convicted of killing Wehde as part of a plot to frame her first husband, John Pitman, who is the father of her child Bert, for a home invasion.



Ten-years ago Tracey Roberts was celebrated as a heroic mother who acted in self-defence to protect herself and her children from men who broke into her home in Early, Iowa and assaulted her.



Dustin Wehde, her neighbour was found slumped at the bottom of a bed at Tracey and Michael Roberts’ home in December 2001 in a pool of blood. One bullet had gone through his head and out of his eye socket.

Noah and Mason Roberts pictured with their mother Tracey Richter in this undated photograph (left) now live with their father Michael Roberts (right)

She claimed that with her husband on a business trip, she was home with her three young children - Bert, Noah and Mason - when Dustin and another man barged through her unlocked door.



Roberts said one of the men choked her with panty hose, she lost her glasses and blacked out and woke to the sound of Bert screaming, who was holding a baseball bat to protect his younger siblings.



She said she ran to the bedroom and reached for the gun safe, as Dustin tugged at her hair and yanked on her feet. When the safe opened, she grabbed a 9mm handgun and pulled the trigger.



Then she said she grabbed a revolver, spotted Dustin moving and fired at him. He stopped moving and the second man fled. She later said it was only one man, not two, who got away.



Her attorney picked up on inconsistencies in Roberts's story as she retold it. In different accounts, she said she fired from different positions.

House: This photo shows the home of Tracey Roberts in Early, Iowa. In 2001, she fired nine shots from two guns into Dustin Wehde, a 20-year-old neighbour who died on the floor of her bedroom Murder trial: Tracey Roberts, now 46, left, fired nine shots from two guns into Dustin Wehde, right, in 2001 - a 20-year-old neighbour who died on the floor of her bedroom

In January, 2011 Sac County had a new prosecutor in Ben Smith, who went through years of files and months later filed a first-degree murder charge against Roberts, who is now called Tracey Richter.



And in November 2011 a court in Iowa found that Richter shot Wehde several times at close range in the back of the head in her bedroom, and concocted an elaborate hoax that she acted in self-defense to protect her children after Wehde and another man attacked her.



It was established by the court that Richter wanted to frame her first husband and father of her first child and paint him as the man who in fact hired Wehde as a hitman to kill Richter.



The court heard this was because he was attempting to take sole custody of his child and was threatening to cut of the $1,000 in child support he was paying monthly to Richter.



And then a key piece of evidence emerged - a pink spiral notebook that had been recovered from Wehde's car.



In Wehde's handwriting, it suggested he had been hired as a hit-man by a ‘mysterious fellow’ named John Pitman III, who was Tracey's first husband. They split up four years after marrying in 1988.



'J.P. wants me to get/force his ex T.R. to kill her son Burt and then commit suicide, and if that plan fails Plan B is to make it appear as though T.R. had committed the murder of her son & then committed suicide,' he wrote.

Tracey Richter was found guilty of an elaborate ruse to frame her first husband who was threatening to cut of alimony payments

Originally Tracey Richter was hailed as a hero for protecting her children against a home invasion but after the tireless work of Sac County Attorney Ben Smith her guilt was established in the murder of Dustin Wehde

But investigators never believed it was credible. Dustin, a special education student, did not like to write and he had never met Mr Pitman.



Prosecutors suspect she had convinced Dustrin to write the diary, perhaps on the day he died.



Roberts, on a business trip during the shooting, initially stood by his wife's account.



But the two eventually divorced and Richter took primary custody of their children until her arrest last year.



Roberts then moved with the children to a California city he has not disclosed, saying he fears for their safety.



And days after her conviction, Richter was caught sending letters containing Roberts' Social Security number and other information that could be used to find him to an incarcerated Wisconsin sex offender.

The female judge has ruled that because Richter held sole custody of her children for the ten years before her arrest she has a unique relationship with her children that needs to be preserved

A crucial piece of evidence that was presented during Richter's trial in October was a pink notebook that the prosecution claimed was written by Richter and not Wehde - who suffered from learning difficulties

Judge Whittenburg ruled that Richter's contact with the inmate was 'not consistent with the duties imposed on a joint legal custodian.'



But she said Roberts didn't present enough evidence to justify hiding in California, saying: 'It is Michael who has created the distance and hardship that is attendant to visiting Tracey in Iowa.'



Whittenburg ordered Roberts to disclose their address so Richter can send her children mail, including tapes of her reading them books. In addition to the visits, Richter was granted 30-minute phone conversations on the kids' birthdays.



Roberts' attorney, Eric Borseth, said he was considering appealing the decision, which he called the first of its kind in Iowa. Borseth said he was also exploring settlement options that would allow Roberts and the children to return to Australia, where he has employment opportunities and family support.

Remembered: The grave site for Dustin Wehde in Holstein, Iowa. Seen through the middle of the heart is the gravestone of his father, Brett, who committed suicide at that spot the year after his son's death

'We were disappointed in the ruling, primarily because we didn't believe it was in the best interests of the children to be visiting her at the prison,' Borseth said.



'The biggest concern we have, other than the trauma of going to a prison and seeing your mom there, is that mom and her family have continued to blame Michael for the predicament she's in.'



Smith, the prosecutor, said he believed the decision did not consider Roberts' rights as a father.



'It's just mindboggling how somebody that is convicted of murder, fraud and perjury still gets a say,' he said.

