State of Maine v. Robinson

CourtSuperior Court of Maine
DecidedNovember 18, 2013
DocketKENcr-13-335
StatusUnpublished

This text of State of Maine v. Robinson (State of Maine v. Robinson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Maine v. Robinson, (Me. Super. Ct. 2013).

Opinion

STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT KENNEBEC, SS. CRIMINAL ACTION DocketNo. CR-13-335/ I

STATE OF MAINE . 1/Uf A-1 ~ [/t·:- ) / - tI , J... 3/ ') .I 1201 Lf

V. VERDICT

ROBERT A. ROBINSON,

Defendant

By indictment dated May 29, 2013, the Defendant is charged with three Class C

counts, Domestic Violence Assault (Count I), Domestic Violence Criminal Threatening

(Count II), and Domestic Violence Terrorizing (Count III). Defendant waived his right

to a jury trial and the matter was heard before the court.

The Defendant and the victim, Jessica Luiz, have been domestic partners, on and

off, for approximately five years, living at a residence on the Hallowell Road in Chelsea.

Defendant's parents live nearby. Defendant has a history of very assaultive behavior

and anti-social personality disorder going back to his very early years. He had suffered

serious head injuries in two motorcycle accidents, the latest in 2012, resulting in some

cognitive challenges. He has been under the care of a psychiatrist with a diagnosis of

major neurocognitive disorder due to traumatic brain injury; nonrapid eye movement

sleep disorder; history of polysubstance abuse, including alcohol; and preinjury

personality disorder I traits with anti-social behavior among other things. Defendant

has had great difficulty controlling his emotions without proper medication and has

become subject to very violent outbursts. In addition, he is very controlling in his

relationship with Ms. Luiz; she is very agreeable and vulnerable to such control. There

is some indication that both the Defendant and Ms. Luiz have been unfaithful to this

relationship. Defendant's jealousy, as well as perceived outside affairs on the part of

Ms. Luiz, have aggravated his difficulty in controlling his emotions. Over the years of their relationship, Ms. Luiz testified that there have been occasions of the Defendant

assaulting her. In fact, Ms. Luiz testified that on the morning of April12 the Defendant

slapped her.

On April 10, one of these outbursts occurred with the Defendant placing a

pillowcase over the head of Ms. Luiz and advising her that he had a knife, or a razor,

which he would use to "slit her throat" in order to "teach her a lesson." During this

episode, he further advised Ms. Luiz that he would use the knife to cut off her clitoris

and that he had some airplane glue that he would use to reattach her clitoris so that she

would not, "do a lot of bleeding for the emergency room." In this episode, the

Defendant also told Ms. Luiz that he had "dug a hole in the woods and that she would

fit in that hole perfectly." He threatened to cut her wrists so it would look like a suicide

and he would put her in the hole to "make you disappear and no one would know."

Ms. Luiz testified that all of this activity caused her to become hysterical. She

admits that at no time did he place the knife to her throat, that he only used words. She

stated, "He sometimes is a lot of talk," and testified further, "I knew eventually he

would snap." There is no evidence that Ms. Luiz notified any authorities of this

incident.

Over the course of the next couple of days, the Defendant became more and

more agitated. On April 12th he and Ms. Luiz visited his psychiatrist at Riverview

where he advised the psychiatrist that he was "afraid he would do something he would

later regret." He asked to be given Seroquel and Klonopin to decrease his agitation. He

stated was afraid he would do something bad and "lose his girlfriend." The

psychiatrist called in the prescription which was filled, and that afternoon Ms. Luis

gave the medication to Mr. Robinson. 1 Defendant went to bed and fell asleep about 2:30

1 There is also some sugge5tion that Defendant's case manager was told that Defendant also took an Ambien. Ms. Luiz did not indicate knowledge of that event but allowed there was Ambien in the house.

2 in the afternoon and at 7:00p.m., Ms. Luiz found him in the bed and that he was "out

like a light." Shortly after midnight, Defendant jumped up out of the bed and said to

Ms. Luiz, "You made me late," "Its all your fault," "I can't believe you." Saying those

things, he proceeded to start whipping Ms. Luiz with a belt and striking her. When she

played dead to escape his wrath, he stated, "There is nothing wrong with you." She

described the Defendant as having blazing eyes and growling. At some point he

pushed her violently to the floor where she suffered great pain.

At some point the Defendant stopped his activities and went to sit at the kitchen

table. Ms. Luiz, in her pajamas, ran out the door to lock herself in the car. The

Defendant chased her, falling to the ground in the process. When he reached the car, he

calmly asked her whether she had the keys and when she denied having the key, he

calmly said, "Then come back into the house". Ms. Luiz went into the house and sat at

the table while the Defendant went into a side room. Approximately ten minutes later,

the Defendant came out of the room, again with the belt, and proceeded to start

whipping Ms. Luiz again. He had also acquired a broken broom handle and started

hitting her on her head. As she attempted to protect her head with her hands, she

received significant injury to her hands. As suddenly as it had begun, the Defendant

then stopped and he said, "Let's go to bed," and acted like nothing had happened. The

whole episode took approximately one and a one-half hours.

Ms. Luiz had received injuries requiring medical attention, but, consistent with

her history with the Defendant, she took a shower and waited for a visit from

Defendant's mother, a customary event in the mornings. About two hours later,

Defendant's mother arrived and observed Ms. Luiz's condition. She said that Ms. Luiz

was upset, she was crying, and had marks on her face. She testified that she told Ms.

Luiz to "go away for a while." Rather than notify authorities, Ms. Luiz got in her car

3 and drove to her mother's house in Monmouth. Her mother, seeing her condition,

notified emergency medical personnel and law enforcement. While the call was

handled as a medical emergency and not a criminal event as none was alleged, a

Monmouth officer appeared in response to the medical call. The officer interviewed

Ms. Luiz and took pictures of her condition. Ultimately, Ms. Luiz was taken to

MaineGeneral Medical Center where she was interviewed by a Deputy Sheriff and

further photographs were taken. Ms. Luiz did not want to make a criminal complaint

or to take any action with regard to the incident. 2

When Ms. Luiz arrived at the home of her mother, Ms. Lapierre, she was upset,

shaking, had difficulty putting sentences together and had marks on her body.

Ms. Luiz would only say that, "he had hurt her." Ms. Luiz advised her mother of the

belt, the broomstick, the pillow case, and the threatening with airplane glue.

Ms. Lapierre was concerned that Ms. Luiz appeared to be hyperventilating

Ms. Lapierre testified that she observed Ms. Luiz to have bite marks, black and

blue marks, and swollen hands, and that over Ms. Luiz' s objections, Ms. Lapierre had

Ms. Luiz prepare a statement for law enforcement and a complaint for protection from

abuse.

The Defendant does not deny the events of April 10 but insists that Ms. Luiz was

not in fear.

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Related

State v. Boilard
488 A.2d 1380 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1985)
State v. Dube
655 A.2d 338 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1995)
State v. Pinkham
565 A.2d 318 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1989)
State v. Sommer
409 A.2d 666 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1979)
State v. Ellingwood
409 A.2d 641 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1979)
State v. Bridges
413 A.2d 937 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1980)
State v. Page
415 A.2d 574 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1980)
State v. Gallant
2004 ME 67 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2004)

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State of Maine v. Robinson, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-maine-v-robinson-mesuperct-2013.