TRANSCRIPT

sentence for felonious assault, domestic violence and endangering children in connection with the abuse of Dana Robinson, who was 11 months old in 2007 when Robinson called 911 to say the baby had stopped breathing. But after Dana died in his sleep in November 2015 at the home of the Logan County couple who had adopted him, Stewart charged Robinson with murder.

According to the law, however, for prosecutors to reserve the right to file more-serious charges against Robinson if Dana died of his injuries, they had to say so in court at his original plea hearing in 2008. The transcript of that hearing has been lost.

So instead of facing trial on a murder charge, Robinson, 53, pleaded guilty in Logan County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony. Assistant Logan County Prosecutor Daniel Huston and defense attorney William Kluge agreed on the maximum sentence of 11 years.

Although the judge said he will formally sentence Robinson next month, he started the new sentence’s prison-time clock Wednesday. If the judge imposes the 11 years in the plea agreement, that would, in effect, add a little more than seven years to Robinson’s original sentence, which was due to expire in January 2021.

“We’re not happy about it,” Stewart said. “It’s unfortunate.”

Stewart said it is possible the transcript was misplaced when the Logan County Courthouse was badly damaged by a windstorm in 2012, forcing the closure of the courthouse and the move of every file off-site. Stewart said court employees have searched for the file for months, but all anyone could find was an email from Stewart saying he intended to reserve the right to file a murder charge.

“Neither side wanted to risk the whole case on that,” Stewart said. “This was the best outcome available at this point.”

Michael Robinson called 911 on Feb. 26, 2007, and told a dispatcher that Dana had fallen and wasn’t breathing. Paramedics revived Dana, but doctors said he wouldn’t live long. His brain injury and trauma, caused by months of systematic abuse by pinpricks, cuts, pinches, body slams, slaps, bites and shakings, were too severe.

As Huston read graphic details of the abuse aloud, Robinson stared at the courtroom floor, shrugged and repeatedly shook his head no.

The abuse left Dana a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy. He couldn’t walk or talk or sit up on his own. He was blind. Yet Dan and Mary Robinson (Dan is a distant but estranged cousin of Michael Robinson’s) had seen the story on the news, and they adopted Dana in 2008. Under their constant care and attention, the boy proved the doctors wrong. He eventually even showed signs of progress in communicating, and his ability to smile when pleased was undeniable.

Wednesday’s plea agreement disappointed Mary Robinson, but she said she understood its necessity.

“I wish it could have stayed a murder charge because that’s what it was — murder,” she said. “That man stole everything from Dana.”

She said she will speak at the sentencing on May 30 to give Dana a voice for justice a final time.