Sentencing has been postponed for a man who was convicted in January of murdering two women in Harrisonburg in 2021. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
Earlier this year, a jury convicted Anthony Eugene Robinson of murdering Allene "Beth" Redmon and Tonita Lorice Smith in a motel room in Harrisonburg, and then transporting their bodies in a shopping cart to dispose of them on an adjacent undeveloped lot. He was convicted of two counts of first degree murder, two counts of aggravated murder for killing multiple people within three years, and two counts of concealing a dead body. The jury recommended he be given four life sentences for the murder charges, an additional 10 years for concealing the bodies, and a $400,000 fine.
One of Robinson's two attorneys withdrew from the case after the trial, and the court appointed Public Defender Abigail Thibeault to replace him in May.
Last month, Thibeault filed a motion to continue Robinson's sentencing hearing, which was scheduled for September 17. Thibeault argued she needed more time to prepare, in part because she plans to argue that the judge can choose to suspend part of a life sentence – even in an aggravated murder case.
In court on Wednesday, Thibeault said that "not everyone may agree, when you talk colloquially with attorneys across the state."
According to Virginia law, aggravated murder is a class one felony, for which the authorized punishment is "imprisonment for life." However, there is at least one precedent of a life sentence being partially suspended. In 2018, a man convicted of capital murder – the former title of aggravated murder – for killing a Virginia State Trooper in Richmond was sentenced to life in prison, to be suspended on the completion of 36 years behind bars.
In response to that case, State Senator and former trooper Bill Carrico sponsored a bill that became law in 2019. It added a provision to the code which specified that the aggravated murder of a law enforcement officer would receive "no less than a mandatory minimum term of confinement for life."
Thibeault told WMRA in an email she doesn't speak to the press about pending cases.
Thibeault also filed a motion to set aside Robinson's guilty verdict and re-try the case, arguing that the court should not have allowed Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst to present evidence related to two other women's deaths to which Robinson has been tied but not convicted of. The court had ruled before trial that the evidence was permissible to demonstrate aspects of the Harrisonburg murders such as motive, intent, and absence of accident. Thibeault also argued that Garst made inappropriate remarks in her closing argument that prejudiced the jury against giving Robinson a fair trial.
Judge Bruce D. Albertson will consider the motion for a new trial on September 17. If he upholds Robinson's conviction, a new sentencing hearing will be scheduled at that time.
