22 February 2018 :

Robert Hobart, a former death row inmate, takes life sentence deal in double homicide. Hobart (48, White) will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole after taking a plea deal from the state to avoid another jury trial. Hobart has been on death row since 2012 for the murder of Robert Hamm and Tracie Tolbert 2 years prior. The jury in his case was split 7-5 in sentencing him to death. Since that decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down Florida's death penalty law and now requires juries to unanimously recommend the death penalty. Because of the retroactive application of that ruling, Hobart's case came back to Santa Rosa County court. In court Tuesday, Hobart waived the penalty phase re-trial and accepted a plea agreement for a life sentence. He also waived his right to make any post-conviction claims once the sentence was finalized. According to court records, Hobart had a prescription drug addiction and purchased narcotics from the victims. He said he was meeting the couple in a secluded area to purchase drugs when Hamm attacked him with a metal pipe, but a medical examiner later established Hamm died of a close-range gunshot wound to the back of the head. The original jury recommended life in prison in Hamm's death and the death penalty for Tolbert. The court Tuesday imposed the agreed upon life sentence for Tolbert's murder to run consecutive to Hobart's existing life sentence for Hamm's death.