Gary Emerling, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – A D.C. Superior Court judge has granted a mistrial for a suspect charged in the 2008 murder of 13-year-old Alonzo Robinson in the Trinidad neighborhood.
Antonio McAllister, 20, faced 26 charges including first-degree murder while armed and assault with intent to kill while armed following a series of shootings in July of 2008 that claimed the life of Robinson and wounded several others.
The 12-person jury remained deadlocked on McAllister’s fate after acquitting three other suspects and convicting one in the roughly month-long joint conspiracy trial. The hung jury caused Judge Thomas Motley Wednesday to grant a motion for a mistrial by McAllister’s attorney, Frances D’Antuono.
A new trial date for McAllister has been set for Sept. 6. D’Antuono says she plans to continue representing her client in the case, and that she was “grateful to the jury … for not compromising where compromise was not appropriate.”
The mistrial means the jury of nine women and three men returned no convictions for any of the suspects specifically accused of Robinson’s murder. The teenager lived in Alabama and was in D.C. to visit his ill great-grandmother when the Trinidad shootings took place.
“I feel like I lost him all over again,” said Alonzo Robinson’s mother, Marcella Robinson, who was struck in the arm during the shootings. “I just don’t feel like justice was served.”
Prosecutors argued that McAllister and two others charged in the case – twin brothers Joshua and Christian Benton — were affiliated with the Kenilworth neighborhood of D.C. and fought with a group associated with Trinidad at a Maryland club. Afterward, prosecutors said McAllister drove the Bentons and two others in a gold Dodge Intrepid to Trinidad, where members of the group participated in a series of shootings that killed Robinson.
Four others, including Marcella Robinson, were wounded by gunshots during the spree.
Two other suspects on trial — William McCorkle, 25, and Marcus Brown, 23 — were from Trinidad and accused of trying to retaliate against the Kenilworth neighborhood following the initial shootings. Prosecutors said Brown helped provide a gun, while McCorkle and others drove to Kenilworth and wounded two people in a drive-by shooting there.
The Trinidad defendants were not charged with murder or implicated in Robinson’s death.
The jury acquitted the 21-year-old Benton brothers of 28 charges each on Tuesday. The panel also acquitted McCorkle of all charges, but convicted Brown on five of six charges he faced.
A cooperating witness for the government, Kenneth Williams, said he and McAllister fired shots during the incident in which Robinson was killed.
The government’s evidence also included surveillance video of an alley in Kenilworth showing a car similar to an Intrepid pulling in shortly after the shootings, as well as video showing a person resembling McAllister getting into the car after the retaliatory shooting by the Trinidad group.
Defense attorneys during the trial highlighted inconsistencies between accounts Williams has given about the shootings, and pointed out his history of mental health issues and extensive drug use.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the trial’s outcomes.
(Copyright 2011 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
