Man to be retried in horror-movie stabbings

SANTA ANA – Prosecutors are ready to retry an Anaheim man whose conviction on attempted murder for the stabbings of two strangers during a screening of a horror movie at a Fullerton theater in 2008 was overturned on appeal.

A trial date of April 10 was set Tuesday for Steven Walter Robinson Jr., 28, on two counts of attempted murder with premeditation and deliberation, plus sentencing enhancements for using a knife and causing great bodily injury.

Steven Robinson Jr., booking photo

ADVERTISEMENT

An Orange County jury found Robinson guilty in 2009 of those charges and mayhem. He was sentenced to two life terms plus eight years in prison.

Robinson appealed the attempted murder conviction, and the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana last year reversed it, finding that the lower court failed to properly instruct the jury on mental disorder as it relates to intent and mental state.

"Substantial evidence warranted this instruction – a psychologist rendered the unchallenged opinion that defendant suffered from a severe psychiatric disorder that may have combined with his drug and alcohol use to create hallucinations," the appellate court said.

A psychologist who was a clinical professor at UCLA testified at the trial and concluded Robinson was "very mentally impaired," and "by the time of the crimes, had a severe psychiatric disorder."

The Orange County Public Defender's Office had not put forth an insanity defense then, and it has not done so now.

Robinson's defense attorney asked the lower court to instruct the jury on mental disorder, a request the court wrongly denied, the appellate justices said.

At his sentencing, Robinson called the Feb. 24, 2008, incident at the AMC Theater on South Lemon Street a "horrible nightmare" and said he was sorry for "all the pain and suffering I inflicted, both physically and emotionally ... I will never forgive myself."

The appellate ruling didn't suggest a problem with the evidence or the jury's finding, said Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

"A jury convicted this defendant in the first trial because the evidence supported his guilt and we're prepared to take his case to trial again and another jury will make the same finding," she said.

Orange County Deputy District Attorney Andrew Katz argued at the last trial that Robinson was a serial-killer-in-training who collected knives and books about torture and murder.

Deputy Public Defender Erica Gambale contended that Robinson was so intoxicated on alcohol and mushrooms that he was hallucinating and could not form the intent to kill or premeditate the attacks.

A search of his Anaheim home "revealed a double-bladed, medieval type knife, a book called 'Bind, Torture, Kill' and other books about torture, death, and spiritual powers," according to facts outlined in the appellate decision.

Robinson's MySpace moniker was psychokiller666, his interests were "money, drugs, murder, sex, torture (and) death," and a recent status posting read, "SteveN puts a knife right in you," court documents said.

The defendant previously testified that he suffered from childhood depression and began abusing alcohol at age 16, documents say.

The appellate court gave an account of his testimony, which included:

"On the day of the attacks he had consumed about a fifth of whiskey and 10 to 12 grams of psilocybin mushrooms. He felt giddy and kind of euphoric at first, but later started tripping out quite a bit while watching television. He felt he could hear the thoughts and emotions of the actors on screen and make them react to him.

"Later he went to the movies and with so many people around, he started feeling a wave of paranoia. While watching the movie, Robinson started to feel a sense of evil coming like through the movie, through the screen.

"The last thing he remembered was hearing a lot of screaming. He was confused and drove home, telling his mother he had made something bad happen."

Superior Court Judge Richard Stanford Jr. handed down the maximum allowable sentence after noting that the attacks on the two moviegoers watching the horror film "The Signal" were unprovoked and that the victims – who did not know each other – could easily have been killed.

The attacks happened after Robinson was asked to leave the theater because he tried to bring alcohol and a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms inside. When he sneaked back into the theater, the manager called police, according to witnesses during his trial.

Contact the writer: 714-834-3773 or vjolly@ocregister.com

Related:

Read the original post:
Man to be retried in horror-movie stabbings

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero