YORK, S.C. - Does James Robertson want to live, or die?

First, he begged a jury to spare his life.

Then he dropped an appeal of the death sentence he received for killing his parents two days before Thanksgiving in 1997. He said he was ready to be executed.

Now he's back in court trying to win a new trial.

But even before the start of a hearing to determine whether he deserves one, he told the Observer he doesn't want to win.

He says he wants to be executed, but isn't quite ready yet.

"I just want to die on my terms," he said in an interview last week at the York County jail, where he was held before the hearing. "I don't want relief. I'm not going to allow a jury to do the right thing. The harshest punishment is life without parole."

Robertson, 33, did not explain why he needs more time except to say he still has "some things to do."

Robertson cut his mother's throat while his father was in the shower. Then he waited for his father in the hallway, where he slammed a claw hammer into his head and beat him with a baseball bat. Prosecutors said his motive was greed: He wanted to collect his share of a $2.2 million inheritance.

The killings shook Rock Hill, where the family was well-known.

Earl Robertson was an executive at Springs Industries. His wife, Terry, a former teacher, stayed home with their two sons.

James Robertson was an Eagle Scout who studied abroad in high school and then went on to Georgia Tech. He flunked out.

In this week's hearing, court-appointed lawyers are arguing that Robertson's trial lawyers made mistakes that might have affected his fate. They are asking the judge to order a new trial or ask a new jury to determine whether he deserves life in prison or the death penalty.

Robertson asked for the hearing.

Court-appointed attorney Michael Brown said he will do his best to win this week's post-conviction relief hearing for Robertson -- even if it's not what his client claims he wants. The hearing is expected to last at least through Wednesday.

In court Monday, Brown and Joseph Matlock, another court-appointed attorney, questioned whether Robertson's trial lawyers erred in calling a social worker, who ultimately described the crimes to the jury in great detail.

Toni Cascio told the jury in 1999 how Robertson described attacking his mother in her bed and how she screamed for her husband. She said he told her his father fought him with the hammer stuck in his head and described hitting him 200 times.

Bill Hancock, one of the original trial lawyers, testified Monday that he thought Cascio hurt Robertson's chances of getting life instead of death, but said it is impossible to know whether the jury would have spared Robertson if not for her testimony.

The lawyer also asked Hancock why he didn't advise Robertson to plead guilty but mentally ill. Hancock said he didn't have the evidence necessary to prove mental illness in court.

After his conviction, Robertson fired an attorney appointed to represent him on appeal, and then withdrew the appeal. A judge declared that he was competent to make those decisions.

Then, days before an execution date was to be set, Robertson requested a stay.

He's now in the second phase of appeals, and lawyers say that unless he wins it's likely the last time oral arguments will be made in his case.

When asked about remorse in last week's jail interview, Robertson said: "I wish I hadn't done it. I wish I had known I was doing it. I think the Jimmy I knew would have stopped myself if I'd known. I obviously wasn't in my clear mind."

He said his father "mentally tortured" him growing up, and that he killed his mother "because she was in the house that night."

He said he remembers them as "really good people."

Robertson is kept on death row at Leiber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville, about 30 miles from Charleston.

He said he spends his time playing gin rummy and Yahtzee with other condemned killers.

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