N.J. teen gets 17 years in prison for killing girl
WOODBURY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey teenager called his actions "a big
mistake" as he was sentenced Thursday to 17 years in state prison for
fatally strangling a 12-year-old girl whom he had lured to his home with
an offer to trade bicycle parts.
Justin Robinson, now 16, pleaded
guilty last month to aggravated manslaughter in a deal with prosecutors
who were facing some major challenges in the case, including a lack of
physical evidence to determine whether he or his brother Dante Robinson
killed Autumn Pasquale in October 2012.
Robinson, who looked
mostly straight ahead during the two-hour sentencing hearing, must serve
more than 14 years before he is eligible for parole.
"I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen," he told Judge Walter Marshall. "This was all a big mistake."
Relatives
of the girl did not see it that way, and some wanted the judge to issue
a tougher sentence than the one agreed to in a plea agreement. If the
judge had done so, though, the plea could have been invalidated.
"I
believe the defendant deserves more than 17 years," said the girl's
father, Anthony Pasquale, who as a mail carrier had delivered letters to
Robinson's family in Clayton, where the families of the victim and her
killer had deep roots. "I believe his fate should be nothing but death."
When
he pleaded guilty, Justin Robinson said he acted alone. During a
sentencing proceeding, neither he, his lawyers, nor prosecutors shed
light on a motive for the killing, or even what happened beyond what was
already known: Pasquale went to his house several blocks from hers
after receiving a Facebook offer to trade bike parts on Oct. 20. When
she didn't return home that night, her family, then the entire
community, set off in a frantic search. Two days later, her body was
found in a recycling bin behind the home next to Robinson's.
A
break in the case for investigators came when the boy's mother, Anita
Saunders, called police after seeing something troubling in a Facebook
post from one of her sons. Speaking briefly during the sentencing,
Saunders told the judge that media accounts of what happened were
incorrect. "Nobody knows exactly what happened the day of the accident,"
she said.
Robinson's lawyer, Jean Faulkner, told the judge that the boy had
post-traumatic stress disorder from being physically abused as a young
boy and seeing his father strangle his mother more than once. "This is a
learned behavior," Faulkner said.
Autumn's family described her for the judge as a loving tomboy who wore mismatched socks and loved to ride her BMX bike.
They
talked about how her disappearance and death touched the town, located
25 miles southeast of Philadelphia. Her old soccer team, once known as
the Clayton Comets, is now Autumn's Angels; her jersey number, 14, has
been retired from the Clayton Middle School sports teams; a bike path
and a park are now named for her.
And they told the judge how
members of the family, including her siblings and young cousins, are in
therapy and dealing with nightmares about her death.
"When I see
the blue recycling bins out, I cry to think Autumn's innocent life was
so easily discarded like a piece of trash," said the girl's maternal
grandmother, Mary Pasquale, who had taught Justin Robinson in school.
Prosecutors
agreed to allow Robinson to plea to aggravated manslaughter rather
murder because of challenges with the case. Because of his age and a
developmental disability, it was not a sure thing that he would be moved
to adult court. If he had been convicted of murder in juvenile court,
he could have had a chance of parole in less than seven years.
They
also have said that there was no evidence besides his confession that
made it clear that it was he and not his brother who killed the girl.
Dante
Robinson, who was 17 when he was arrested last October, is still
charged with murder in family court. Authorities have not said when they
may drop those charges.
