A deadlocked jury was unable to reach a verdict on Michael Robinson鈥檚 second-degree murder charge in a mass shooting outside a packed Baton Rouge nightclub.
Chief District Judge Donald Johnson, who presided over the case, declared a mistrial after more than six hours of deliberations late Friday evening.
The two-week trial was punctuated by legal jousting over surveillance videos and other key pieces of evidence that prolonged the proceedings by several days.
The hung jury composed of 10 women and two men did find Robinson, 25, guilty of illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was on probation at the time of the Oct. 20, 2024, shooting, which happened less than six months after he pleaded guilty to illegal use of weapons in a separate case.
No date was set for a retrial or Robinson鈥檚 sentencing on the weapons charge.
Robinson was being tried for an early morning shooting that marred a Southern University homecoming weekend with bloodshed. The party was hosted at the Sunrise All Event Entertainment Center, a now-shuttered after-hours venue located in a strip mall in the 9700 block of Greenwell Springs Road. Dexter Cormier, a 35-year-old Dallas resident in town for the festivities, was killed and five other people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
Defense attorneys poked holes in the state鈥檚 case, questioning how Robinson was identified as the shooter and criticizing the police investigation that led to his arrest.
鈥淭his is a case where Michael was in the wrong place at the wrong time,鈥� public defender Melissa Walker said. 鈥淭he police officers didn鈥檛 do their jobs. They have no idea whose guns those were. They have no idea who touched the guns. They鈥檙e making conclusions based on their opinions.鈥�
Prosecutors based their case on a videotaped confession officers said Robinson gave investigators and surveillance video that detectives said showed him shooting Cormier.
鈥淒exter was just standing by the tent trying to get some turkey wings and some fries,鈥� said Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Carter. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 all he was doing. And for that, he lost his life?鈥�
Surveillance video played in court showed the moments before and after the shooting. Revelers roamed in and out of the club sharing laughs, daps and hugs. Some danced to the music that spilled out from the club inside as security guards patted down attendees at the entrance.
In an instant, the atmosphere turned from festive to riotous as more than 20 shots rang out shortly before 4 a.m. The eruption of gunshots sent the crowd of hundreds scattering, with people running for cover, ducking and hiding behind vehicles parked in the jam-packed parking lot. That was followed by screams and cries as the chaos ensued. One victim laid on ground in front of the club, another could be seen on video hopping away from the fray and a third man was seen crawling on the pavement before he managed to pull himself to his feet and limp out of the frame.
More than 20 Baton Rouge Police officers descended upon the scene, as did at least three ambulances, a detective testified.
Soon after the dust settled, melee turned to mournfulness, with some on camera shedding tears and consoling one another. Cormier was rushed to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, where he died hours after the shooting.
鈥淭his was a tragic event that should not have happened, but it did,鈥� said Assistant District Attorney Frederick Scott, one of the prosecutors who helped argue the state鈥檚 case. 鈥淒exter Cormier was only 35 years old. His whole life was ahead of him. His whole life.鈥�
According to arrest reports, Robinson admitted that he opened fire on Cormier 鈥渁fter hearing someone shoot as he was waiting for his food at the food tent,鈥� a concession stand set up outside the club. Robinson told investigators he didn鈥檛 know why he 鈥渓ocked on鈥� to Cormier because the victim hadn鈥檛 shot at him, according to the charging affidavit.
Jimson Nora, the lead homicide detective in the case, testified that a man hanging out with Robinson that night fired the first three gunshots to start the shooting, and wounded one of the six victims. There were no indications police ever identified or apprehended that man.
But the detective said he identified Robinson as the man who killed Cormier after reviewing surveillance footage that showed the shooting. He said bystanders described the shooter as a heavyset man and Robinson was wearing the same clothing as the shooter when officers detained him at the scene.
Walker, Robinson鈥檚 attorney, grilled Nora on the chain of custody for the surveillance video, and a lack of forensic evidence in the case while cross-examining him Friday.
She asked why there was no fingerprint testing done on four guns recovered from the scene, including the alleged murder weapon. She also asked why there was no DNA evidence to link Robinson to the shooting.
Nora couldn鈥檛 say why fingerprint testing wasn鈥檛 done. He testified that crime scene analysts took DNA swabs from all the guns, but the reports had yet to come back. A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives report on the weapons had also yet to return to reveal who the guns were registered to, the detective said.
Walker confronted Nora on how he knew which gun was used to shoot the victims and kill Cormier without any conclusive forensic evidence.
鈥淎s a lead detective for the Baton Rouge Police Department 鈥� are you comfortable proceeding to trial while still having evidence on the guns outstanding?鈥� she asked.
Nora explained that he ruled out three of the weapons based on ballistics evidence at the scene. Police recovered 22 shell casings in the parking lot fired from 9 mm rounds. Nineteen of them were fired from the same gun.
Nora said a 9 mm Glock with an extended magazine was the only recovered weapon capable of firing that many rounds. The chamber and extended clip, which held 31 bullets, were emptied.
Police also seized another 9 mm pistol from the scene, but that one was a Sig Sauer that could only hold seven bullets and it still had four rounds in it. The two other guns on scene were also Glocks, but detectives ruled them out because they were .40-caliber weapons unable to fire 9 mm rounds.
The trial was halted on the second day of testimony Jan. 23 when Johnson ruled the surveillance footage inadmissible as evidence because it wasn鈥檛 disclosed to defense attorneys in a timely manner. Prosecutors appealed that decision, but the First Circuit Court of Appeal denied their writ Tuesday. 抖阴h Supreme Court justices granted the state鈥檚 emergency writ and allowed the surveillance footage to be used as evidence.
When the trial reconvened Thursday, objections and continuous bench conferences interrupted the trial as attorneys spent much of the day still wrestling over the footage being played for jurors.
During closing arguments Friday, defense attorneys told jurors that Robinson never actually confessed to shooting anyone. Walker said he was whisked away from the scene almost immediately and kept isolated for 10 hours before detectives questioned him about the shooting.
鈥淢ichael didn鈥檛 have an appreciation for the questions that were being asked because he wasn鈥檛 watching what was going on,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n answering the questions, it鈥檚 important to note a person鈥檚 perception of the evidence. We don鈥檛 know what Michael鈥檚 appreciation was because he was separated from everyone. But the detectives knew what was going on.
鈥淭he state is here asking you to out Michael in jail for the rest of his life, and there are still DNA reports outstanding,鈥� Walker went on to argue. 鈥淭hey brought this case to trial without having all of the evidence.鈥�
State prosecutors countered that Robinson knew exactly what he was doing and must be held accountable for his actions.
鈥淐onnect the dots. Don鈥檛 get fooled by the smoke screen,鈥� Carter said. 鈥淚f you pull out a gun and start shooting with all these people around, what is your intent? Your intent is to kill or injure people, which Michael Robinson did on that night.鈥�