“Twenty-nine painful and torturous days later Brenda Scott died from those horrific burns,” Assistant Butler County Prosecutor Katie Pridemore said.
Robinson, 25, is charged with aggravated murder, aggravated arson and felonious assault for the incident on Arroyo Ridge Court in Fairfield Twp. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.
After months of hearings, psychological evaluations and a hearing in November when Robinson declined to plead guilty to all charges in exchange for a life in prison sentence without the possibility of parole, the trial began Monday with Judge Keith Spaeth presiding.
Scott was a 50-year-old nurse at UC West Chester with three grown children. She met and fell in love with Robbi Robinson Sr. They were engaged and made plans to move in together.
“Little Rob” as his family calls him was not happy about the engagement.
Pridemore said the defendant was “going through it.
“His parents had separated, he was unemployed and his car was taken away,” she said during opening statements. Robinson also did not want to talk with or interact with Scott.
Robinson “bottled up his anger and took matters into his own hands,” Pridemore said.
That opportunity came when Scott stayed at the Robinson house overnight and Robinson Sr., also a nurse, went to work the next morning.
Robinson put on a heavy “puffer” coat despite the 70 degree weather and carried the accelerant filled bottles to the bedroom where Scott slept.
He burst into the room and using all his strength, knocked out Scott’s front teeth, then poured acetone and cigarette lighter fluid on the bed and her body, the assistant prosecutor told the jury.
“And then defendant, Robbi Robinson, did the unimaginable. He did the worst of the worst, He purposely set another human being on fire,” Pridemore said. “He took a lighter, flicked the lighter on, he looked at Brenda and set Brenda — her flesh —on fire.”
A neighbor called 911 and as emergency workers attended to Scott outside, police found Robinson still inside wearing the coat.
Pridemore said evidence will show Robinson’s DNA was on a Bic lighter found in the bedroom and accelerants were found on his clothes and jacket as well as on pieces of Scott’s flesh.
The defense deferred its opening until after the prosecution had presented its entire case, but attorneys David Brewer and Lawrence Hawkins III expressed concerns about Robinson’s mental health several times over the months leading up to the trial.
The trial is scheduled to last through Monday. If found guilty, there will also be a penalty phase to determine the jury’s recommendation for punishment, which could be death.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
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