Sentencing has been delayed until next year for a man convicted of killing two women in Harrisonburg and transporting their bodies in a shopping cart. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
In January, a jury convicted Anthony Eugene Robinson of murdering Allene "Beth" Redmon and Tonita Lorice Smith in a motel room in Harrisonburg in 2021. The jury recommended he be given four life sentences plus 10 years and a $400,000 fine. Judge Bruce D. Albertson will ultimately decide what sentence to impose.
Robinson was initially scheduled to be sentenced in September, but the appointment of a new attorney – Public Defender Abigail Thibeault – prompted the delay of that hearing to December 23rd, in part because she plans to argue that the judge could choose to suspend part of a life sentence, even in an aggravated murder case. On Tuesday, the sentencing hearing was rescheduled again, for May 22nd.
In motion filings, Thibeault argues that the defense needs Robinson to be evaluated by a neuropsychologist so they can present mitigating evidence at the sentencing hearing. The court appointed Daniel Murrie, a professor at the University of Virginia and the director of the Institute of Law Psychiatry and Public Policy, to evaluate Robinson – a process Murrie told Thibeault could be completed by May.
The defense explains that Robinson has previously been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, major depressive disorder with psychotic features, and anxiety; and that in the past he reported auditory, visual, and tactile hallucinations; and paranoid and persecutory delusions to doctors. They also point to Robinson's 1.24 grade point average as evidence that further IQ testing is relevant to the case. Thibeault wrote that they are still waiting to receive records from the Washington, D.C. school system, Howard University Hospital, and other public agencies.
The motion notes that Robinson is "under a warrant" for a separate murder charge, likely referring to the homicide of Sonya Champ in D.C.; and could be charged with additional homicides in Fairfax – that would be for the women Cheyenne Brown and Stephanie Harrison.
The two women Robinson has been convicted of murdering, and the three who he is suspected of murdering, all disappeared in 2021, and their bodies were found between September and December of that year.
The filing also denies the prosecutors' assertion that Robinson poses a danger to those around him in the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Regional Jail, where he is incarcerated while awaiting sentencing to a state-run prison. It references two jail incident reports – one from March of this year, in which Robinson was written up for allegedly covering the camera in his cell and then complaining to the responding corrections officer that he hadn't been seen by medical providers and was tired of the jail. The second incident report was from June, in which Robinson allegedly concealed alcohol in his cell, broke a broom, resisted being moved into isolation, was tased and secured in a restraint chair.
Thibeault argued that if Robinson posed a threat to others, he wouldn't be housed in a pod with other inmates, where he is allowed to cut their hair with clippers.
