Claims of self-defense failed to persuade a Fairbanks jury Tuesday as they found 24-year old Kevin Robinson Jr. guilty of first-degree murder for killing his former codefendant.
As Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Earl Peterson read the jury’s decision, Robinson nodded slowly to himself before dropping his head into his hands.
Robinson was charged in 2022 after using a friend’s handgun to shoot 21-year-old Robert Rones in his car. Robinson and Rones had an intertwined criminal history, having accepted separate plea deals after robbing a Fairbanks McDonalds together in 2019.
Tuesday’s verdict follows six days of trial, during which state prosecutors aimed to build a narrative that showed Robinson was retaliating against Rones for helping police identify him in the McDonalds case.
Prosecutors brought in witnesses who recalled a post the defendant made on Snapchat in the weeks before killing Rones. In that post, Robinson used a slang phrase to refer to Rones as his opponent.
And in closing arguments Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney Andrew Baldock said the number of bullets Robinson fired at Rones eliminates any questions about his intent.
“And how about 13 pulls of the trigger? That certainly is powerful evidence of intent. This defendant chose to pull the trigger on that firearm 13 times – over and over and over and over and over again – until he actually couldn’t fire anymore because the gun was empty,” Baldock said.
The prosecution team had also replayed interviews between Robinson and investigators in which he initially denied but later admitted his involvement in the shooting.
In the recorded interviews, Robinson said Rones had ruined his life. But he also insisted he had only wanted to fight his former codefendant that day in 2022, not kill him.
That insistence was a big part of the defense’s argument. Assistant Public Advocate Rachel Duvlea, Robinson’s attorney, mostly sought to form a case that demonstrated Robinson’s decision to start shooting was a self-defensive, fear-based reaction.
Investigators testified that they found no gun in Rones’ car, but Duvlea maintained her client didn’t know that.
“His intention was to fight Robert. This is not a case of murder in the first degree. Kevin saw Robert making a move toward his glovebox, and in that moment, the situation changed for him. He felt scared, and he felt like he had to defend himself,” she said.
Jury deliberations lasted about three hours Tuesday. Their verdict also convicts Robinson of third-degree weapons misconduct and found him guilty of a so-called aggravating factor in the murder charge. That factor required that the victim of the murder had offered testimony or evidence against the defendant in a previous case.
Robinson’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 16.
Another man, Ryan Robinson, owned the gun Kevin Robinson used to kill Rones and was also present during the shooting. Ryan Robinson’s trial is set for June 2.
There is no relation between the two men.