Monique Robinson

Background

Monique Robinson was a Phoenixville teenager and former Phoenixville Area High School senior. She was 20 on July 12, 2013, and had been 18 years old when the shooting of a borough restaurant worker took place. Robinson planned to appeal her conviction.

Robinson’s father provided testimony-related context at trial, including testimony that Robinson had secured the gun used in the shooting the afternoon before from her father’s home.

The offence

Selvin Mamerto Lopez-Mauricio, 23 at the time of his death and a native of Guatemala, was shot once in the abdomen and died on his way to Phoenixville Hospital. His death occurred around 12:45 a.m. on Sept. 14, 2011 in the 100 block of Prospect Street in Phoenixville.

Lopez-Mauricio was on his way home after finishing his shift at a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant in Royersford early in the morning of Sept. 14, 2011. As he sat and spoke with his uncle near his home on Prospect Street, he was approached by Robinson and two friends, Saleem Williams and Stephen Reidler.

Williams allegedly pointed a .22 semi-automatic handgun at the uncle. Robinson grabbed Lopez-Mauricio’s backpack, and Williams began punching him while Reidler kept the uncle from telephoning police. When Robinson ran from the scene, Lopez-Mauricio tried to chase her. Robinson then allegedly turned and told Williams, “Shoot him.” Williams shot Lopez-Mauricio once in the abdomen.

After the shot was fired, Robinson, Reidler, and Williams returned to an apartment on Bridge Street that Williams shared with his girlfriend. There, they divided up the contents of Lopez-Mauricio’s backpack, including food Lopez-Mauricio had brought home from Wendy’s for his late dinner and $300 in cash he intended to send home to his family.

Investigation

The prosecution presented evidence of Robinson’s flight to avoid apprehension and treated it as consciousness of guilt.

Detective Sgt. Joseph Nemic of the Phoenixville Police Department testified that police identified Williams, Reidler, and Robinson as suspects from video taken with security cameras from nearby businesses. Nemic said he went to Phoenixville High School in the morning of Sept. 20, 2011 and confronted Robinson, who was a senior at the school at the time, with the news that she was a suspect. Nemic said he later learned she went home sick and that he set up a meeting with one of Robinson’s sisters at 3 p.m. that day at the police station, but Robinson never arrived. Nemic said he checked her grandmother’s home that evening and Robinson was not there.

Police searched for Robinson at relatives’ homes, at locations she was known to frequent in town, and other places. A warrant for her arrest was issued on Sept. 21, 2011, and efforts were made to alert other police jurisdictions of her fugitive status. Nemic said a “wanted” poster was circulated, and press releases were given to Philadelphia area newspapers, radio stations, and television news broadcasts. The Chester County District Attorney’s Office offered a $2,500 reward for her whereabouts.

Police traveled to Atlanta, Ga., Pottsville, Somerset County, and other locations tracking down tips they received, to no avail, and Nemic said the investigation was “continuous, exhaustive.”

It was not until Dec. 27, 2011 that police apprehended Robinson after she turned herself in with Robert J. Donatoni’s assistance.

During trial, Chester County Detective Joseph Walton testified that he had interviewed Raiana Smith on Wednesday morning and that Smith told him three times that she could not recall whether her time with Robinson happened the day before the homicide or some other time.

Arrest / pretrial

Robinson was declared a fugitive after police went looking for her at Phoenixville High School and her home on the north side of the borough on Sept. 21, 2011, only to find she had disappeared. She was apprehended after turning herself in on Dec. 27, 2011 with Donatoni’s assistance.

After her apprehension, Robinson was held without bail since her apprehension in December 2011 to await sentencing.

Trial

Decision not to testify

President Judge James P. MacElree II asked Robinson after giving her time to think about the matter and discuss it with her attorneys, Robert Donatoni and Stuart Crichton of West Chester:

“Do you wish to testify or not?”

Robinson answered:

“No”

Donatoni told the judge:

“This is over my strong objection,”

and:

“Against my strong recommendation. This is a monumentally bad decision.”

MacElree cautioned Robinson before the trial began on Monday that a life sentence in Pennsylvania means just that:

“You die in jail,”

Charges and trial proceedings

Robinson faced a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole if she was found guilty of first- or second-degree murder by the Common Pleas Court jury hearing her case.

At trial, Robinson was charged with first, second, and third-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy, and various other counts stemming from the September 2011 shooting death of worker Selvin Mamerto Lopez-Maurico, who was robbed of a backpack as he came home from work.

The lead prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Peter Hobart, told jurors during his summation that the case fit felony murder principles. Hobart told the jurors:

“That makes her involved in the robbery and therefore guilty of felony murder,”

and:

“There is no way around that. And that alone is enough. By definition that makes her guilty of second-degree murder.”

Hobart also said:

“There are many paths up a mountain, but once you get to the top the view is always the same,”

Donatoni urged the jury not to pin a guilty verdict on Robinson based on the co-defendants who testified against her and argued they should be viewed skeptically. Donatoni compared the testimony to biting into a candy bar and finding a worm inside. Donatoni said:

“You throw it away,”

and:

“These guys are the worms crawling out of the candy bar.”

Donatoni argued that simply being a bystander did not make Robinson guilty and said:

“Yes, she was there, but she didn’t do this.”

He said:

“Mere presence at the scene of a crime is not proof of guilt.”

Hobart reminded the jury that Esuardo Lopez—whose nephew Selvin Mamerto Lopez-Mauricio was shot once in the abdomen and later died—saw a woman later identified as Robinson grab a backpack belonging to the victim while two men accosted them on a dark street.

Testimony from the co-defendants, Saleem Williams and Stephen Reidler, indicated that Robinson had secured the gun used in the shooting the afternoon before from her father’s home and joined in their conversation about “going on a mission” to rob someone and get money that night.

Robinson was a senior at Phoenixville Area High School at the time of the shooting.

Jury deliberation and verdict

The jury panel consisted of nine men and three women. The panel deliberated for just under six hours before returning with its decision. Jury deliberations began at about 1:15 p.m. Thursday after closing arguments and legal instructions.

After the verdict, Deputy District Attorney Peter Hobart said:

“There are no winners here,”

and later:

“It’s a young girl facing a life sentence, but you cannot bring the victim back,”

Robinson broke down in tears as she sat next to her attorney and heard the verdict read by the jury foreman.

Robinson was found guilty of second-degree murder, defined as a murder committed in the commission of another felony, in this case robbery. She was also found guilty of robbery, aggravated assault, theft, conspiracy, firearms violations, and flight to avoid apprehension. The flight count related to her disappearance after Lopez-Mauricio’s death. In a separate sentencing discussion, it was also stated that she was found guilty of second-degree murder and firearms violations and flight to avoid apprehension.

Sentencing

President Judge James P. MacElree II pronounced a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole on July 12, 2013.

Robinson’s attorney, veteran West Chester defense attorney Robert J. Donatoni, addressed MacElree before the sentence and said:

“Miss Robinson, as things stand right now, is going to die in jail, and that is a tragedy of monumental proportions,”

MacElree said before handing down the mandatory sentence:

“This day didn’t have to come for you,”

and:

“There could have been a different day and a different outcome. But you chose what you had to do and you have to live with that.”

The sentence was life in prison without parole plus an additional term of eight years and 10 months to 34 years in prison.

Deputy District Attorney Peter Hobart asked that MacElree impose consecutive time as a “safety net” in case Robinson’s murder conviction should be overturned. Hobart noted that Robinson had not been on good behavior at Chester County prison and had earned three infraction citations there.

Donatoni said he was almost certain that there were no significant appellate issues to raise and that even if her conviction were overturned for some other reason, it was very likely she would be convicted of the same offense again.

Appeals

Robinson indicated she planned to appeal her conviction.

Outcome

Robinson’s conviction for second-degree murder resulted in a sentence of life in prison without parole on July 12, 2013.

The two men who had helped rob Lopez-Mauricio as he made his way home, including the man who fired the fatal shots, accepted plea offers and faced release dates from state prison sometime in the future.

Aftermath

Robinson’s sentencing included statements from the victim’s family.

Carlos Lopez, speaking for the victim’s family, thanked MacElree for his attention to the case and to all the police and prosecutors who had worked on it. With the aid of an interpreter, Carlos Lopez said:

“I never thought that people were going to hurt him and take his life away.”

He said:

“This is a very painful moment for me because I remember all that happened to my brother,”

and:

“It was terrible what we had to go through. I live with the memory of my brother.”

He also said his family had a strong belief in hard work and that his brother was looking forward to a new job that would help him earn money to support his parents at home in Guatemala; his brother’s death ended that dream.

Robinson had supporters in the courtroom, including her mother and older sister, while Lopez-Mauricio’s family was joined by other members of his family and community supporters who helped them deal with authorities.

Robinson was also described as having been offered a plea bargain that would have allowed her to win her release after 30-to-60 years in state prison, but she rejected it and “rolled the dice” with the jury.