He is a convicted killer.
He was a Warlocks enforcer so bad and so crazy that the outlaw motorcycle gang used him to punish its enemies.
He was an organic gardener, growing sunflowers at Graterford State Prison.
Yesterday, Robert ``Mudman'' Simon adopted another persona: He was a martyr, willing to face the death penalty to spare his pal.
Over the repeated and impassioned objections of his own lawyers, Simon pled guilty to the May 6, 1995 shooting death of Franklin Township Police Sgt. Ippolito ``Lee'' Gonzalez.
He also testified that he was the triggerman.
``It all happened kinda fast,'' Simon told the judge. ``Just squeeze the trigger quick. Boom. Boom. That's it.''
By admitting his guilt, Simon has nothing to gain. He got no plea bargain deal for a lighter sentence. Rather, as the judge said repeatedly during the 3 1/2-hour hearing, he made himself even more vulnerable to the death penalty.
As the admitted triggerman, Simon, 45, takes the heat off his co-defendant and fellow Warlock, Charles ``Shovel'' Staples, 38.
Under New Jersey law, only the defendant who struck the fatal blow can receive the death penalty.
Until Simon's statements yesterday, it was uncertain who shot Gonzalez when he stopped the burgundy 1981 Pontiac Bonneville after a reported burglary in the area, said assistant Gloucester prosecutor Steven S. Sand.
Almost as if he was urging him to reconsider, Gloucester County Superior Court Judge Joseph F. Lisa repeatedly asked Simon if he realized what he was doing.
``Yes sir,'' Simon said. ``I understand.''
Why was he pleading guilty? the judge asked him in the packed, hushed courtroom.
``I just changed my mind, Your Honor,'' said Simon, sandwiched between his two public defenders and surrounded by five armed sheriffs and prison guards.
``I figured maybe I could help out Mr. Staples and we can clear things up. It will take the burden off his family. He won't be up against the death penalty . . .
``The man is like a brother to me. I'll do that for him.''
During an early break in the hearing, Staples's attorney, Jeffrey C. Zucker, and his mother, Edna Goldy, said that Staples barely knew Simon.
Staples had picked up Simon from Graterford when he was paroled in February after serving 12 1/2 years of a 10-to-20 year sentence for the 1974 murder of Beth Smith Dusenberg, 19. After Gonzalez's slaying, there was a public furor over the parole.
