Man takes plea in shooting Most serious charge dropped
A Butler man will be sentenced in July for a drive-by shooting after taking a plea deal which dropped the most serious charge of attempted criminal homicide.
Raheem Jamar Robinson, 28, pleaded guilty June 20 to misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person and felony unlawful possession of a firearm. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped the other 14 charges Robinson faced, including a number of felonies.
Robinson and Mackenzie Peters, 23, were arrested last year for a drive-by shooting on North Sixth Avenue. Robinson was scheduled to take his case to trial June 25 in county court but instead accepted the plea deal offered by Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz.
If a sentencing judge accepts the plea deal July 11, Schultz said Robinson will face 4½ years to 10 years in state prison, according to the agreed upon recommended sentence.
“In all honesty, we have to do what we could prove,” Schultz said, explaining her reasoning behind the deal she made with Robinson and his lawyer, public defender Charles Nedz. “It was going to be difficult to prove the whole case. One of the victims was (Raheem's) baby's mother and it didn't look like she was going to cooperate with us.”
Robinson was originally charged with felony attempted homicide, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, felony persons not to possess a firearm, misdemeanor recklessly endangerment, tampering with or fabricating evidence, and criminal conspiracy.
According to police, Robinson and Peters were charged after Butler police said the pair were involved in an April 2018 incident on the 300 block of North Sixth Avenue. Authorities allege Robinson fired shots at a group of people that included Kirisa Taimuty, the mother of Robinson's unborn twins. No injuries were reported.
Schultz said that Taimuty was consulted for her approval before the plea deal was offered to Robinson.
“It just made more sense to do this. I would have a hard time proving anything else,” Schultz said. “I'm happy with the outcome.”
Peters also accepted a deal in March for her involvement in the drive-by shooting, pleading guilty to four counts of reckless endangerment and two counts of hindering apprehension. In pleading to the charges, Peters admitted to providing transportation in a car to someone she knew had an illegal firearm and that she helped conceal the gun from authorities. For her part in the shooting, Judge Timothy McCune sentenced her to 18 to 72 months in prison.
