Man convicted of murder in South Side ambush
A Franklin County jury delivered a guilty verdict Friday against one of two Detroit-area men accused in the shooting death of a third man outside a duplex on the South Side a year ago.
Anthony J. Robinson, 25, was convicted of murder but acquitted of the more serious charge of aggravated murder, saving him from a possible life sentence with no chance of parole.
Jurors also declined to tack a gun specification onto the conviction, indicating that they weren’t convinced by the prosecution’s argument that Robinson is the one who pulled the trigger in the slaying of 46-year-old Anthony L. “Tone” Brown.
Robinson, known as “A.J.,” also was acquitted of a charge of tampering with evidence involving the murder weapon.
Robinson, a resident of the Detroit suburb of Redford Township, faces 15 years to life when he is sentenced on Thursday by Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey M. Brown.
The victim was shot after answering his front door in the 400 block of East Markison Avenue shortly before noon on Oct. 12, 2016. After a bullet struck Brown in the chest, he ran through his home to the backyard, where he was shot in the back.
Assistant Prosecutors Nancy Moore and Richard Schanz presented surveillance video and argued that Robinson had positioned himself between the front porches of the duplex, ambushing Brown after accomplice Jason J. Hicks, 40, of Detroit, lured him to the front door.
But jurors appeared to agree with the argument of Robinson’s attorney, Mark Hunt, who said that it was just as likely that the accomplice had fired the fatal shots.
“They found him to be there and involved, but not the triggerman or ever having possessed the gun, that’s what their verdict says,” Hunt said Friday.
After delivering the verdict, the jurors told the prosecution team as much, revealing that they believed that both Robinson and Hicks were involved in the death, but that it wasn’t certain which man was the shooter, Moore said.
During the trial, Moore had told the jury that it didn’t matter whether Robinson or Hicks shot Brown because they were accomplices who were equally responsible for the death.
Hicks also faces an aggravated-murder charge at his trial, which is set for January.
Brown’s friends and witnesses were pleased with Robinson’s conviction, Moore said.
“The jury thought that’s what the evidence supported, and we’re happy with the verdict,” she said. “The guy’s responsible for the death of the victim, and he’s held accountable.”
Jurors saw video from a pair of home security cameras — one above the front door of Brown’s residence and one just to the east of his front porch. Although the shooting isn’t visible from either angle, a neighbor testified that Robinson is the person seen walking out of view of the camera toward an area between the porches.
Ballistic evidence established that the .40-caliber bullets fired at Brown came from the area where Robinson would have been standing.
Video from the camera above the front door shows Hicks approaching the door and beginning a conversation with Brown, who isn’t visible. The screen door is seen opening part way before shots are fired.
Hicks is seen jumping out of view of the camera during the incident.
Both men were arrested about three weeks after the shooting in Detroit, where Hicks had sought treatment for gunshot wounds he suffered in the incident.
The murder weapon was found stashed in a charcoal grill just down the street from the shooting, resulting in the charge of tampering with evidence.
Robinson did not testify, and none of the evidence suggested a motive for the shooting.