Robert was taken to Edinburgh, put on trial, and hanged with five others. Robert and his father denied they had planned the rebellion together, but Robert's accomplice, Patrick Halcro, insisted he had acted on Earl Patrick's instructions. Evidence was taken in Orkney from Margaret Buchanan, a servant who claimed she had read instructions for Halcro written by the Earl. She said that Halcro showed the paper to Robert, who tore it into pieces and they both told her it were better so, that it could do no hurt in time coming, and "the Earl of Orkney should not want his head for it". Robert's execution evoked much sympathy from the people, owing to his young age, around twenty-two, and his "tall stature and comlie countenance".