Case Snapshot
Case ID: 15433
Classification: Fighting
Animal: dog (pit-bull)
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Attorneys/Judges
Prosecutor(s): Heidi S. Barshinger
Defense(s): Michael Morchower
Judge(s): Burnett Miller III


For more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.



Thursday, Apr 16, 2009

County: Henrico

Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: David W. Robinson

Case Updates: 6 update(s) available

A Richmond sheriff's deputy arrested in Henrico County on charges of animal cruelty and dogfighting has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an investigation and the criminal charges.

Henrico police arrested David W. Robinson after responding to a call Thursday about fighting dogs in the 6400 block of Miller Road in the county's eastern end.

Twenty-one pit bulls, one of which was dead, were found in the rear of a home, said Henrico police Lt. A.J. Scott. Animal-protection officers took four injured dogs to receive veterinary treatment and the rest to the county animal shelter.

Robinson, who was arraigned in Henrico General District Court yesterday, has been charged with two counts each of cruelty to animals and promoting or engaging in animal fighting, both Class 1 misdemeanors. A trial is scheduled for June 9.

Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. confirmed yesterday that Robinson has worked as a deputy sheriff since March 2003.

"The charges placed against Corporal Robinson are serious and not consistent with the professionalism expected of the men and women of the Richmond City Sheriff's Office," Woody said in a news release.

He added that Robinson will be placed in an administrative position in the sheriff's office where he will not have contact with the public or inmates.


Case Updates

Among the groups monitoring David W. Robinson's sentencing in June for animal abuse and felonies linked to training dogs for fighting was the Coalition to Unchain Dogs.

Yesterday, though, while only his family looked on, Robinson himself was effectively unchained after a judge allowed him to serve out the remainder of a 14-month sentence at home and on a contracting job.

A Henrico County jail spokesman said Robinson, 38, a former Richmond sheriff's deputy, was released from custody at 11:30 a.m., about an hour after he appeared in court.

"Terribly disappointed. That's all I can say," Henrico Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Heidi S. Barshinger said after court yesterday when asked to comment on Robinson's then-pending release.

She told Circuit Judge Burnett Miller III that Robinson should stay behind bars and that in post-conviction interviews, he still hadn't taken responsibility for what he had done or shown remorse. "It's like he didn't even know what was going on in his own backyard," she said. "All the debriefings and meetings with him were pointless."

Robinson developed as a key target in an area crackdown on dogfighting and animal abuse after football star Michael Vick's dogfighting conspiracy conviction in federal court in Richmond in August 2007.

Investigators found dog-training equipment and signs of amateurish medical care at Robinson's eastern Henrico home in April last year. Some dogs had their teeth filed to razor sharpness.

But the scene of uncared-for dying dogs in Robinson's muddy backyard chilled even longtime abuse investigators. Of 22 animals, only six could be saved. Expensive autopsies showed that some dogs were so emaciated the marrow was depleted from their bones.

"What's left is a bag of bones on a chain with nowhere to go," Barshinger said at Robinson's sentencing in June.

Robinson, who was never charged with actually engaging in dogfighting, pleaded no contest to four felonies related to fighting activities and multiple misdemeanor animal cruelty, neglect and licensing violations.

Miller sentenced Robinson to 14 months in jail and ordered him to pay nearly $7,000 in medical fees and fines. The judge also promised to review Robinson's status after he had served four months.

Robinson's lawyer, Michael Morchower, described Robinson as a bereft figure who has lost his home and sheriff's job and has complied with the court's orders. Now a felon, Robinson had no prior criminal record, Morchower said yesterday in court.

He said Robinson has developed a nervous disorder in jail; at sentencing in June, Morchower told the court his client is so shattered emotionally that he can barely express himself.

In August, a Richmond judge sentenced Deano A. Jones, 47, to three years in prison on a dogfighting-related charge similar to the convictions against Robinson and suspended a 10-year sentence for animal cruelty. Authorities found 21 dogs at Jones' North 23rd Street home; 17 were euthanized.

In another high-profile Richmond case, a judge sentenced Richard E. Robinson, 33, to 10 years in prison in March on three felonies and one misdemeanor related to dogfighting. Richard Robinson, no relation to David W. Robinson, had a prior conviction from 2005.
Source: 2.timesdispatch.com - Nov 4, 2010
Update posted on Nov 3, 2010 - 11:36PM 
On June 30th, a former Richmond sheriff's deputy was sentenced to 14 months in jail on dogfighting and animal-cruelty charges.

A Henrico County prosecutor argued that the cruelty David W. Robinson, 38, displayed toward 22 pit bulls he kept undercut any notion that he had simply become overwhelmed by his ability to care for the animals.

Robinson was found guilty of four felony dogfighting charges, though there was no evidence he had engaged in actual fighting. Authorities, however, found dogfighting equipment on his property and animals with teeth that had been filed. He was also convicted of eight misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, and three related misdemeanors.

Circuit Judge Burnett Miller III said that he would consider allowing Robinson to finish serving his sentence through home incarceration after four months in jail.

Robinson, who worked at the Richmond Jail, lost his job after he was arrested in April 2009.

He had faced a maximum of 28 years on the charges.
Source: Times-Dispatch - Jun 30, 2010
Update posted on Jul 7, 2010 - 12:07PM 
A Henrico County judge this morning agreed to keep David W. Robinson, convicted of multiple charges related to dogfighting and animal cruelty, on bond pending formal sentencing June 30.

Henrico prosecutors had asked that Robinson's bond be revoked when investigators in his case noticed him eating lunch May 28 at a Chili's restaurant with his mother. The day before, he'd skipped a long-scheduled sentencing hearing.

Robinson's lawyer, Michael Morchower, put on testimony this morning that Robinson had been released from a psychiatric ward May 28 after his treating physician decided Robinson's condition could be handled on an outpatient basis, and that he was no longer an immediate danger to himself. Robinson had been hospitalized May 25.

Henrico Circuit Judge Burnett Miller III said today he feared for Robinson's wellbeing but stressed that he must appear for sentencing June 30.

Robinson faces up to 28 years in prison in connection with dogfighting training equipment and other evidence found at his Henrico home.
Source: Times-Dispatch - Jun 9, 2010
Update posted on Jun 11, 2010 - 1:58PM 
A lunch at Chili's may put convicted Henrico County dogfighting figure David W. Robinson behind bars weeks ahead of schedule.

Released from a psychiatric ward May 28, Robinson was lunching with his mother at a Chili's restaurant that day, one day after a sentencing hearing had been postponed because of Robinson's allegedly deteriorating mental status.

"He's in the psycho ward," defense lawyer Michael Morchower had explained to Judge Burnett Miller III of Henrico Circuit Court on May 27 as law-enforcement investigators subpoenaed to appear at the hearing watched.

Robinson had been in the hospital since May 25, Morchower said of the development. The lawyer told the judge Robinson's family was fearful for Robinson's well-being.

Inside the restaurant May 28, some of those same investigators, who happened to be eating lunch as well, looked on in astonishment at Robinson, the man they had arrested in February 2009 and helped convict of multiple cruelty and dogfighting charges this year.

They filled out an affidavit informing prosecutors about the lunch.

On Tuesday, Henrico prosecutor Heidi Barshinger filed court papers seeking to revoke Robinson's $10,000 bond and to take him into custody pending a new June 30 sentencing date.

Robinson faces up to 28 years in prison.

"The defendant's attorney, Michael Morchower, represented to the court that his client was in the psychiatric ward of St. Mary's Hospital and was unable to attend the sentencing hearing," Barshinger argues in the court papers filed Tuesday.

Morchower said yesterday that Robinson, a former Richmond deputy sheriff, was in fact at St. Mary's Hospital at the time of the hearing May 27 but was released the next day.

A letter introduced in court from Robinson's treating physician stated that the doctor would need 30 days "to conduct a complete mental evaluation" but said nothing about when Robinson might be released.

Robinson, Morchower said, is still being assessed but is not confined in a hospital.

"I don't see why someone can't have lunch with his mother," the lawyer said last night.

Miller has scheduled a hearing June 9 to decide whether Robinson's bond should be revoked.
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch - Jun 3, 2010
Update posted on Jun 10, 2010 - 4:34PM 
A former Richmond sheriff's deputy faces up to 28 years in prison after his conviction yesterday on multiple dogfighting and cruelty charges.

David W. Robinson, 38, whose Henrico County property contained 21 pit bulls, most of them in emaciated condition and some with their teeth filed to knifelike sharpness, will be sentenced May 27.

"There was no place on this property that was dry," said Henrico Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Heidi Barshinger, describing Robinson's property as covered in slime and mud and dead or dying dogs.

Barshinger said the investigation of Robinson began with a complaint from a neighbor about bloodied fighting dogs, two of which were chained. It expanded into multiple states and used the resources of national humane organizations and even a pathologist who was able to show maltreatment from a dog's decreased bone marrow.

Robinson was convicted after entering an Alford plea in which he acknowledged there was sufficient evidence to convict him, but Barshinger said Robinson persisted in statements that "he loved his dogs and he denied any involvement in dogfighting."

Henrico Circuit Judge Burnett Miller III presided.

Experts would have testified that search warrants turned up evidence of staple guns, sedatives, training devices, and other materials consistent with fighting dogs and dressing wounds, Barshinger said.

Investigators also turned up evidence of dog purchases through known breeders of fighting dogs and evidence of bloodlines of fighting animals, Barshinger said.

Robinson, of the 6400 block of Miller Road in eastern Henrico, had been a Richmond sheriff's deputy for six years as of April 16 last year, when Henrico Animal Protection officer J.E. Carlson responded to a complaint at Robinson's home and discovered evidence that eventually led to Robinson's arrest.
Source: Richmon Times - Dispatch - Feb 26, 2010
Update posted on Feb 26, 2010 - 11:46AM 
It's been three weeks since more than 20 dogs were taken from a home in Henrico.

The owner, former Richmond Sheriff's Deputy David Robinson, was charged with animal cruelty, torture and planning to promote or engage in animal fighting.

CBS 6 has learned, of the 19 dogs that survived, 12 had to be put down because they were in too bad of shape or too aggressive. But seven can be saved.

Those pit bulls were given temperment tests, two passed and are in the process of being adopted. The remaining five are believed to be good candidates for adoption, but they just need a good home and some training first.

"Misunderstood Pit Bull Rescue Organization" is helping Henrico County Police with placing the remaining five pit bulls in foster care.

"The foster parents, along with volunteers from misunderstood, will help take them from being in a kennel all day, to the big yard to run around in, don't jump the fence, don't bark at people with strollers. So we help them with that process," says volunteer Tracy Pouzar.

But it's not just the pit bulls that are scrutinized.

"Before they get to the adoption family they are going to go through that rehabilitation process, and if anybody is interested in adopting from misunderstood, they one have to be 21. They have to 2, pass a criminal background check, and 3 there's a home inspection as well," say Pouzar.

It may be some time before the five get to a foster home.

As for the investigation, police say it is far from over.

"There may be further charges against mr. Robinson and there maybe further charges against some other people," says Lt. Doug Perry.

Lt. Perry says while the investigation is on going, they still need to analyze a computer taken from Robinson's home to see if there is any evidence that can be found.
Source: wtvr.com - May 11, 2009
Update posted on May 12, 2009 - 1:35PM 

References

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