A Fairbanks jury convicted a 21-year-old Fairbanks man Tuesday afternoon for fatally shooting Robert Rones in May 2022.
The jury deliberated for less than four hours Tuesday before finding Kevin Morese Robinson Jr. guilty of felony first-degree murder and felony third-degree weapons misconduct. The jury also found an aggravating factor that Robinson committed a prior offense.
Superior Court Judge Earl Peterson will sentence Robinson on Oct. 16 at the Rabinowitz Courthouse in Fairbanks.
The trial of Robinson’s codefendant, 21-year-old Ryan Robinson, no relation to Kevin Robinson, is scheduled to start on June 2.
Kevin Robinson and Robert Rones attempted to rob the Airport Way McDonalds at gunpoint in June 2019. Both fled the scene. Rones was arrested first and identified Robinson as his accomplice.
Three years later, Kevin Robinson was with friends Ryan Robinson, Cedrick Williams and Darien Harris at the former Holiday Gas Station on South Cushman Street shortly before 2 a.m. on May 27, 2022 when he saw Rones. The group split into two cars, chased Rones through South Fairbanks and blocked him in near the intersection of 27th Avenue and Mercier Street. Kevin Robinson fired 13 shots with Ryan Robinson’s Glock Model 21 .45-caliber pistol, six of which fatally struck Rones.
During the seven day trial, law enforcement officers, a crime scene investigator, crime lab employees and the state medical examiner took the stand.
In his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Andrew Baldock recounted the evidence in the case and argued that Kevin Robinson was still angry that Rones snitched on him three years earlier.
The jury rewatched Ring camera footage from about a block away from the shooting.
“If this doesn’t show intent to kill, what does?,” he said.
The attorney wrote a math equation on a board that read “motive + contemporaneous threats to shoot Mr. Rones + actual conduct + dishonesty to FPD = guilty of murder 1.”
“It’s not advanced calculus. It’s simple arithmetic,” Baldock said.
Baldock argued that Robinson was still “extraordinarily angry” that Rones snitched on him.
“How about 13 pulls of the trigger? That certainly is powerful evidence of intent,” Baldock said. “This defendant chose to pull the trigger on that firearm 13 times in his brain.”
He also reminded jurors that neither Robinson or his friends called 911 after the shooting, which Baldock said was indicative of his guilt.
“He just left him there do die, bleeding to death, six bullets in his body. He just left him there to die in the streets,” he said. “Chilling. Absolutely chilling.”
Baldock argued that Robinson was the initial aggressor and self defense was not a factor in the case.
Assistant Public Advocate Rachel Duvlea maintained that Robinson wanted to fight Rones, not kill him.
“This was supposed to be a fight, through and through,” Duvlea said. “Someone did lose their life, and that’s sad, but that was not Kevin’s intention.”
Duvlea said that Robinson wanted to fight Rones, but the situation changed when Robinson saw Rones reach for his glovebox.
“He felt scared and he felt like he had to defend himself,” Duvlea said. “It was a split second decision that happened in real time with real people.”
She added that it was reasonable for Robinson to think that Rones might have a firearm since they previously attempted to rob McDonald’s together.
Of the state’s argument that Robinson had been angry with Rones since 2019, Duvlea said, “it doesn’t make sense.”
She reaffirmed that Robinson did not intend to kill Rones.
“The evidence clearly shows that was not his intent that night,” she said.
Cedrick Williams, a former soldier who was stationed at Fort Wainwright at the time of the shooting, testified Tuesday morning that he picked up a friend nicknamed “Day” at the gas station and followed the other car so that he could record a fight that was supposed to take place.
“I thought it was going to be a fight,” he said. He said that he did not know that Robinson had a gun.
Kevin Robinson then got out of the car and started firing shots.
“It was a crazy thing that happened,” Williams said.
Williams did not call 911. “I didn’t want to be next.”
After the shooting, he took “Day” home and went back to his residence.
