Anthony Robinson started a very unlucky streak for a few weeks in 2013, and it wound up lasting more than a decade.
In late 2012, Robinson was shot in the leg and foot multiple times. He underwent several surgeries and a long recovery, leaving him unable to walk without crutches.
In January 2013, just weeks after his surgery and still requiring crutches to walk, he was identified by the police as the gunman who chased Kelvin Jemison in front of Washington Park Homes and shot him.
Robinson, aged 31, was released from Stateville Correctional Center on Monday after serving an 11-year sentence for murder.
During the trial, a witness who was with Jemison at the time of the shooting, retracted his previous identification of Robinson as the shooter. Additionally, two other witnesses testified that Robinson, who had shoulder-length dreadlocks, did not resemble the short-haired man they saw firing the gun.
No physical evidence connected Robinson to the shooting; he maintained his innocence since his arrest. Despite this, he was found guilty in a bench trial and sentenced to 55 years in prison.
X-rays were crucial in proving Robinson’s innocence. An orthopedic surgeon’s report, which included images of the pins and screws implanted in his foot and ankle, convinced an appeals court to send Robinson’s case back to the judge who had convicted him.
Prosecutors filed a motion to vacate Robinson’s conviction, and on Monday, Judge James Obbish ordered his release.
A few Weeks before Jemison was murdered, Robinson had been shot, shattering bones in his feet and legs and requiring surgeries that left him unable to walk without crutches.
During the trial, a surveillance video showed the shooter chasing Jemison and his friend on a sidewalk while firing shots. After the shooting, the gunman sprinted back to a getaway car..
According to ABC 7 Chicago news Jemison’s friend testified at trial that detectives influenced his identification of Robinson as the shooter.
“He told me that while he was going through the trial and his time in prison, he kept thinking that his whole life had been like this, a very tough life,” attorney Lauren Myerscough-Mueller said Monday evening as she waited for Robinson to be released.
“But what kept him going was knowing that he was going to come out from under it, because bad things had happened to him, and he always had come through it.”
Robinson plans to seek a certificate of innocence, which is a formal recognition from a court that he did not commit the crime, according to Myerscough-Mueller.
Robinson is friends with Rising HIPHOP artist THF Zoo. The rapper posted the following on social media after his release.
