[quiet dark music]
- [Blair] Oh my God.
[people chattering]
It was a house party that unknowingly
and unexpectedly turned into a small oral sex orgy.
[party chatter]
- All of a sudden a man comes
through the door with a ski mask,
opens fire, and just kills.
[gunshots] [sirens blaring]
[weeping]
I have to relive that night every single moment,
you know what I'm saying?
- Three people are dead, it was a massacre.
- I remember the smell, the smell of death,
you can just smell it in the air.
- [Paytra] Figure runs out of the house.
- [Richard] You can see a shadow.
He was wearing all black with a mask on.
- Their lives were taken
all in one night at the hands of one person.
They were free spirits.
They were authentically them.
- [Jaimie] It was a horrible, horrible event
for the LGBTQ community.
- [911 Operator] [indistinct] County 911,
what's the address of your emergency?
[tense suspenseful music]
- Okay, your wife was in a bar,
and you said she was unresponsive?
- [Lawyer] This is what he's gonna tell you.
- [Speaker] I had to get out of that situation.
- And I grabbed the gun.
- [Speaker 2] Trying to find the first place
to put a body.
- No, sir.
- The only thing they could do was kill him.
- [Judge] Do you want to say anything?
- No.
- [Juror] We the jury find the defendant...
[dramatic music]
[sirens blaring]
- On the night of May 25th,
there was a group of young people
that were at a house party.
They were very, very loud,
they were very boisterous.
They were having a real good time that night.
[upbeat dance music]
- [Narrator] They were all part of
Detroit's LGBTQ community,
and what's known as the ballroom scene.
- The ballroom scene was created for everyone
to come and showcase their talents,
and their natural abilities.
- [Narrator] But it's group that has been the target
of a series of hate crimes in the Detroit area.
- There were several attacks on gay
and transgender people.
It's just a serious matter no matter what or who.
- Hate has been on the rise the last couple of years
because I believe it has been, quite frankly, easy
to make us the monsters.
- We do need to be careful.
There is definitely a lot of fear and hate.
I'm personally, I guess you could say
a victim of fear.
- [Narrator] Blair Keys was one of the people
at the house party that night.
- I didn't feel unsafe with my girls,
like I really didn't.
Even though it was like 4-5:00 in the morning,
it's like when I'm with my girls it's like
[bleep] we have a good time.
[people laughing]
- [Jaimie] And they decided to go to the gas station
on Mack Avenue.
[camera clicks]
Excellent video stream.
They were just purchasing stuff from the gas station.
It was Alunte,
Timothy,
Paris,
Blair.
- [Blair] You could see that we was
clearly having a good time.
- [Narrator] Another customer catches the eye of Paris,
and outside, as the young man leaves the gas station,
Paris goes after him.
- He's laughing and he's engaging,
and Paris continues to flirt with him,
and he's kind of flirting back,
and ultimately Paris asks him
to come back to the house party.
- Blair is driving the vehicle,
and he drives off.
[tires squeal]
- No shade. You know, do, do, do.
- He's thinking about it,
should I go, should I not go?
I wanna go, I don't wanna go.
He's kind of pacing.
You'll see him walk 10 steps forward,
10 steps back, forward, back,
then finally he makes a commitment.
- [Narrator] The newcomer shows up at the house party
a few minutes later.
- He was just mellow.
He was real mellow.
It was a house party that unknowingly
and unexpectedly turned into a small
oral sex orgy.
- They were taking turns performing oral sex.
Everything was willing.
He was a willing participant.
- I felt like I was in a movie.
I was just like "Damn."
- They were kind of laughing,
calling him a trade.
So a trade is another word for a man that's down low,
meaning that you are in the closet.
You're not openly gay.
He walks back to the gas station,
he goes, he grabs a juice or a pop.
He kind of threw his money at the cashier person,
and just several hours ago you were
laughing and joking with this cashier person.
He was making motions such as maybe a dry heaving,
almost like you're sick to your stomach
about what just occurred.
[dramatic music]
- [Blair] Oh my God.
- All of a sudden a man
comes through the door with a sky mask, opens fire,
and just kills.
Starts shooting.
[person indistinctly yelling]
Blair runs into the bathroom.
He can actually hear Paris screaming.
He's seeing blood coming through the wall.
- Paris is shot, Alunte is shot.
They are slumped down next to each other
outside of a bathroom door.
Paris still had a pulse.
- I have to relive that night every single moment,
you know what I'm saying?
[Blair crying]
- [Narrator] A second 911 call came from Armand,
who was in the basement trying to stop the bleeding
of his friend, Timothy.
- Our operators are directing them to asking
about the wounds on the victims,
who else is hurt, where to apply pressure.
- EMS determined that Alunte and Timothy
were dead on scene.
Paris succumbed to her injuries about 10 hours later.
- [Narrator] The shooter is seen on surveillance video
running away from the house.
- You could see the shadow,
He was wearing all black with a mask on.
A smaller frame Black male, light complected.
- Three people dead, it was a massacre.
[siren blaring]
- I remember the smell, the smell of death.
You could just smell it in the air.
- This was a hate crime.
It was a horrible, horrible event
for the LGBTQ community.
[letters beeping]
- How you doing, brother?
- I'm all right.
- I'm Detective Mason from the Detroit Police Department.
- [Narrator] The best eyewitness was Blair.
- Our main focus right now is to try
to identify the person
that, this stranger that came to the house.
- Describe this person that came in and did that.
- All I really saw was his eyes.
I saw that he had on a black ski mask,
and a hat, maybe a black coat,
like all black.
But I couldn't really tell him out
'cause I was too busy trying to react to cover.
- We'll work through that.
Now when you say ski mask,
just something to cover?
- Mm-hmm.
- Was it here or just?
- It was like here, here, the top half,
kind of like a hat, hat-like.
- [Detective Mason] Okay, so half-
- And now we're getting the information
that they had met this random guy at the gas station.
- He was light skin.
I can't really describe exactly what his features were,
I can only remember that he was light-skinned,
and 5'8".
- Who was talking to the light-skinned guy?
- Paris. - Paris?
- Yes. - Okay.
- And her only intention was basically
to have a good time.
And I know the definition of a good time
can sometimes be dangerous,
and what she was doing was dangerous,
but she literally meant no harm.
I really thought that the police
was gonna just try to just sweep it up under the rug,
they really don't even give a damn about us.
But when they actually
worked as hard as they did to get him,
it really gave me a sense of relief.
- All right, man, so, you know
we're from the homicide unit, right?
- [Narrator] Armand Matthews was in the basement
when the shooting began,
and did not see the masked man.
- Why would somebody wanna come in there,
and try to harm you guys?
- I don't know.
I predicted that it was a hate crime
or some [bleep].
- Tell me, man, who do you think did this?
- To be honest, I don't know.
The BP boy.
- What makes you think it might have been
the guy from BP?
- He's a total stranger. All of them are,
but [bleep] he's a down low.
- [Detective] What's a down low?
- They don't want it to be known.
They have a whole life.
Say for instance they have a baby mamma probably
or something like that,
then once they go behind close doors
that's all they want is to either try to fight you,
rob you, all type of [bleep].
- So at this time now we have a LGBTQ liaison.
So any time that you come across a case
that believes that it's related to the LGBTQ community,
we let that officer, Corporal Danni Woods,
we notify her.
- [Woods] And you said you think that he might have done it?
- I mean he's a suspect
'cause the shooting took place after he left.
So there's no telling who [indistinct].
Somebody could have got mad,
and said "You know what, I'm gonna go shoot
one of these [bleep] [bleep] who did it."
- [Narrator] The key would be the video
from the BP gas station.
- Because that video was crystal clear.
He was somebody that we needed to talk to right away.
[dramatic music]
- It was a time in Detroit
that was very dark and gloomy.
I prayed instantly, I was sad.
- [Narrator] But there was hope
that with the video of the stranger at the gas station
police could now track down
the suspected shooter.
- The video was pulled,
and the video was used for facial recognition.
[video beeping]
- [Narrator] And there was a match from state records.
- We believe that this is Devon Robinson.
That's who it was in the gas station.
We get an address for him,
so now our investigation goes to that address.
- [Narrator] The home on Buckingham Road
is only a short distance away from the gas station.
- Devon and his mother moved out last night.
We did end up getting a phone number for his mother.
She was uncooperative
and refused to speak to us.
- [Narrator] But during the search for Robinson
detectives had been able to obtain
neighborhood surveillance cameras to track
the shooter's movements.
- [Paytra] Figure runs out of the house,
running on Devonshire,
then on Brunswick, then to Buckingham.
- [Narrator] Devon Robinson lived at 3440 Buckingham.
- [Paytra] And then the Buckingham surveillance video
sees that figure running into the house.
[suspenseful music]
- All that was tracked on cameras.
The evidence showed that it was him.
- [Narrator] So now the hunt was on for Devon Robinson.
- And we sent that same clip,
and it went out on the media that day.
- Detroit Police want to identify this man,
described as a person of interest
in a deadly triple shooting.
- His face is all over the news,
and some crime stopper tips came in
with the location where he was.
So a week and a half it took us to find him.
[police sirens wailing]
- [Narrator] Robinson was taken into custody
without incident.
[indistinct]
- [Ira] Do you know why you are here right now today?
- Not really, but...
- Okay.
Well, you've been arrested for a triple homicide.
- [indistinct] triple homicide?
- Triple homicide.
And those three individuals that we know
that you're responsible for shooting.
We know exactly what you did,
but we wanna know why you did what you did.
What was your emotional state
during that time that night,
and everything else?
- Both Investigator Todd
and Detective Houser,
the tactics that they used,
and the way that they approached this individual
was good in a way to try to make him feel comfortable.
- Our objective is to talk,
and keep him from asking for a lawyer,
'cause if he does so the interview's over.
- I know you might be embarrassed to
talk about some of the things,
but what we talk about in this room
is between us right now.
We need to talk about some of these things,
and we need to talk about
some of the emotions you was feeling.
I see it right now.
You look like you full right now.
You look like you wanna cry right now.
You okay?
- Yeah, I'm good.
- You sure? - Yeah.
- Okay.
In the beginning he was
portraying himself as a straight man.
He sat back with his arms crossing his body.
That showed me he was guarding,
he was hiding something.
- Right.
- Because we know that,
I mean, unless we got it wrong,
did somebody take advantage of you on that night?
- Ain't nobody take advantage of me.
- So you wanna tell us what happened that night?
I mean, what caused somebody to go in and shoot somebody?
- That, I don't know about that.
- [Ira] That's not true. - Don't know.
- That's the worst thing to do too
'cause you create, what you show now
is a conscienceness of guilt.
If you lie about something,
you show a consciousness of guilt.
Now I'll tell you right now
that's not a good way to go.
- So Ira was the bad cop,
and I was the good cop.
I come with no judgment, you know.
You know what I'm saying, ain't nobody judging you regardless.
You know what I'm saying?
Your mama, your family, ain't nobody gonna judge you
for what happened.
I can't judge you, he can't,
only one person can judge,
that's the man above.
- Right.
- So, just think it's smart just to talk about it.
I think you'll feel better.
Get that monkey off your back.
- There ain't nothing to let out.
I ain't did nothing. - [Richard] Okay.
- He, he did not admit to
doing the shootings or anything like that.
- [Narrator] So, the detectives tried another approach,
that the people at the house were already
under investigation.
- We had been investigating these guys,
and we know they're involved
in a whole lot more stuff that you don't even know about.
Okay, but just like they took advantage of you,
we understand they took advantage of some other people.
- [Narrator] But none of that was true.
- No one in the house was under investigation.
There were no wire taps.
There were no satellites watching the house.
We can tell lies.
He believed it,
and it worked.
We know for a fact that you were there
at the house that night.
- The people that you're talking about?
- Yeah.
You know Paris?
- I ain't know Paris other than that night.
- Other than that night,
so you did meet him at the gas station.
Him or her, right?
- Not really at no gas station.
- [Richard] In the neighborhood? - Yeah.
- You did meet him.
All right, so let's talk about that.
That is important because if you didn't do anything
the word is out.
We think you did.
- Right.
- [Richard] So it's up to you to clear it up.
- Right.
- It's up to you to clear it up.
So if we gotta get to the point
of them leaving this Earth.
- Right.
- We can talk about everything
that happened before that
because maybe you didn't.
Maybe somebody else came in.
Maybe somebody else in the house
they took advantage after what they did to you.
We know about that.
We know, I'll just say,
we know that you had sex,
or oral sex was performed on you,
some sexual acts was performed on you
in the house over there.
We know that.
- Right.
- [Richard] You admitting that? - Right.
- Okay.
Did you take your clothes off?
Did Paris take clothes off?
Were you all naked?
- No.
- No?
Just pulled your pants down,
and sexual act went on.
You don't remember?
- That's exactly what happened.
That's the thing,
don't nobody know that.
- Don't nobody know what?
- Don't nobody know I'm sitting down low.
- [Richard] Are you? - Yeah.
- [Richard] Okay. - Don't nobody know,
not even my mama, not my pops, nobody.
- My pops would disown me, my uncle would disown me.
He's very, very clear about the fact
that he was embarrassed about
what had happened in that house.
- Okay, so don't nobody know
that you're down low.
So, with that being said,
that's the point of what we're talking about.
Now were you threatened to be exposed?
- No.
I ain't mad about,
it's the thing of everybody finding out.
- You don't want people to find out?
- No, I'm talking about my family,
like my mama, my daddy.
- You don't want them to find out?
- [Devon] They're the only people-
- That you don't want to find out?
Why not?
- Because I haven't told them myself.
- There's no doubt in my mind
that that's what this was all about.
Devon Robinson preferred to kill these people
rather than have it get out
all over the neighborhood
what he had been engaged in with them that evening.
- [Narrator] But the detectives still needed to prove
that the man seen running away
from the house that night was Devon Robinson.
They needed a confession.
[dramatic music]
- LGBTQ community members, often their first,
their first encounter with harassment
is in the home, it's from family.
It's from a brother, a sister, a mother, a father
who cannot for any reason look beyond
their own personal feelings and emotions,
and just love.
- [Narrator] And detectives felt
that's what they were dealing with
as they questioned Devon Robinson.
- I wanna feel like I wanted to tell them before.
- Wanted to tell them what,
that you were down low?
- Yeah, but can't.
- So if that's your concern
on talking and explaining everything,
I think you need to get over that
because they gonna love you, get past it.
- Right.
My mama still don't know nothing.
- I wanted to know if he committed these crimes,
if he was the shooter.
I wanted him to tell me he did it.
- [Ira] There's gotta be a reasonable explanation for why,
and we know you know why.
- Why would I know why?
- [Ira] Because you were responsible for it.
And you know we know you were responsible for it.
Son, can you sit up please?
Let's not do that, okay?
- It' ain't nothing.
It ain't what you saying.
Well it is what you saying,
you're basically accusing me
for something I didn't do.
- [Narrator] Then detectives told Robinson
what the neighborhood surveillance cameras showed.
- We got video, no [bleep],
mind you, there's cameras everywhere.
We have cameras everywhere.
- Right.
- To track, tracks you.
Boom, boom, boom, you can piece all that together.
- Right.
- No [bleep].
- I'm listening to you.
- I need you to hear me.
If you're listening- - I'm hearing.
- [Richard] No, right, I'm just saying.
- [Ira] What's going on right now, this is serious.
It's very serious.
But you have to show some remorse.
You're not a killer.
I can look at you,
and tell you're not just some coldblooded killer.
Somebody would have to-
- I didn't kill nobody. - You.
Nah, you shot somebody and they died.
You shot somebody and they died.
- What was striking about watching that interview
was that he would laugh,
he would laugh.
- Let me tell you something,
quit laughing, it ain't funny, man.
Three people died, three people died.
That's not funny.
- What's funny is you sitting here
trying to accuse me of something
I didn't really do,
that's what's funny.
- I'm talking to my partner now,
and you can listen.
- I'm listening.
- [Richard] It's the fact that he's ashamed
to talk to his parents about his lifestyle.
I think he's kind of ashamed, scared
and embarrassed to talk about the actions
that he did.
You can't deny technology.
You can't.
- You damn sure can't,
but I know what I didn't and did do.
- That's fine.
- I told y'all everything I knew that night.
- That's not the truth.
- I don't wanna talk no more.
- [Richard] Why mama leave then?
Why she move?
- Don't wanna talk no more.
- [Ira] Okay, well don't talk, listen. All right?
And what you need to listen to is,
look here, this is a lot more serious
than you can realize.
- I know it's serious.
- [Ira] It's extremely serious.
Three people died, man.
Three people died.
- Look, I don't even wanna talk to y'all no more.
- [Ira] Okay, don't talk then. - Can I have an attorney?
- [Ira] Yeah, you can have an attorney.
- Even though he did not admit to it,
I feel he still confessed,
'cause he told a lot.
He put himself there,
the sexual acts he confirmed.
- [Ira] I'm telling you this,
the stuff that you said already is real damaging.
- [Devon] How is that damaging?
- [Ira] Because it shows a consciousness of guilt.
You lied.
You lied to us.
- [Devon] Lied about what?
- [Ira] You lied about murdering these guys.
You lied about it.
And you're showing no remorse for it whatsoever.
- [Devon] What you mean remorse?
I didn't do anything 'cause I was never there.
- [Ira] You were never there, huh?
- [Devon] I was never there.
- [Ira] You was there, you told us you were there.
You was lying on the bed
getting a blow job.
- [Devon] I was there,
but I wasn't there when three people got killed.
- [Ira] You wasn't there when three people got killed?
- [Devon] No.
- [Ira] Okay. And you didn't kill 'em?
- [Devon] No.
- [Ira] Okay, all right.
You stick with that. - [Devon] Okay.
[door squeals]
- [Narrator] Devon Robinson was charged
with three counts of first-degree murder,
but in a call from jail as he awaited trial,
Robinson told his family
and friends the witnesses were all lying about him.
- My lawyer told me we gonna beat them.
I didn't do [bleep].
I'm innocent.
- Man, they ain't got [bleep].
- Yeah, yeah, tell the world that I'm coming home.
I'll be home in a minute, man.
[dramatic music]
[letters beeping]
- We're live right now in a new trial.
Devon Kareem Robinson is facing 10 counts,
including three counts of murder
in connection with this really horrific shooting
that he allegedly engaged in
because of their sexuality.
- Morning.
The whole issue in this case was identification.
It was very important that the jury know
that the only issue that they needed to focus on
was the identity of the shooter.
So you're gonna learn that when these four individuals
go to BP gas station there's cameras everywhere.
You're gonna see that this is where these individuals
for the first time come into contact
with the defendant, Devon Robinson.
Ultimately defendant ends up
walking himself over to Devonshire,
where Paris has invited him.
You're gonna learn that the defendant's ultimately taken
upstairs to the house on Devonshire,
and you're gonna hear upstairs
that the defendant receives oral sex
from several people in the house.
So at the end of the case,
I'm gonna ask that you listen to all the evidence,
listen to the witnesses, look at some video,
and most importantly I want you to listen
to what the defendant says on the house [indistinct].
And at the end of this case,
I'm gonna ask that you go back
in that jury room,
and I'm gonna ask for justice.
- Attorney Callanan, do wish to make
an opening statement at this time?
- I do, Your Honor.
Good morning.
This case, I'm here to tell you
it's packed full of emotion, right?
We have TV cameras.
We've got three victims.
We've got sex involved.
This thing is, I'm sure,
not part of your everyday life.
So right now it's time to put both feet on the ground,
take a deep breath, we're here,
we're real, we're relaxed, we're gonna make them prove it.
You heard the prosecutor say in her opening remark
that you're gonna have to decide
is the issue of identification.
Well, she hit it right on the nose.
And I'm gonna tell you that it just doesn't add up.
You've got Mr. Keys,
he's going to be their primary witness in this case.
He didn't look, he didn't see it.
You're gonna hear from witness Armand Matthews,
who was in the room when the shooting occurs,
he didn't see the defendant shooting.
[tense music]
They don't see it.
It happens right in front of them,
and they don't see it.
When the responding officers come out,
they're unable to tell who did this.
They don't have beyond a reasonable doubt,
and they're gonna stretch everything they can
so that you believe that he's guilty of something.
Well, I'm here to tell you
he never directly admits his involvement
in the killing of these three individuals,
and we hope that at the conclusion
of these proceedings that you find the defendant
not guilty.
We appreciate your attention, thank you.
[dramatic music]
- Raise your right hand for me, please?
Do you solemnly swear
or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help me God?
- Yes.
- [Narrator] The prosecution's key witness was Blair Keys.
- It was very scary,
but, of course, I was, my mind was made up
because at the end of the day
I had to do what I had to do for my girls.
- [Jaimie] What did you see [indistinct]?
- I see him coming in with a ski mask and-
- [Jaimie] Did this person have a weapon?
- Yes, he was shooting.
- [Jaimie] What did he do?
- I was in a two second shot.
That's how I got a good glance,
at least at his eyes.
That's how I remembered.
- [Jaimie] Are you able to identify
the person who was the shooter that night?
- Yes. - [Jaimie] Why?
- [Jaimie] And who did that look like to you?
- [Jaimie] The person sitting in the courtroom today,
the defendant, Mr. Robinson?
I did not look at him.
They forced me to look at him,
like "Is that the man?"
Of course that's the man.
Now lock him the [bleep] up.
- You stated in your statement of May 25th
that the light-skinned male left
right after the orgy was over, is that right?
- [Evan] He walked out, correct? - Yes.
- [Evan] And when he walked out,
he didn't say anything to any of you did he?
- No.
- [Evan] He didn't threaten you in any way, did he?
- No.
But the look in his eye-
- [Evan] Sir, sir- - [Judge] Mr. Keys,
I'm gonna remind you to only respond
to questions that are posed to you, okay?
- [Evan] Can I ask that you strike
"the look in his eyes"?
- [Judge] Yes, the court will strike
"the look in his eyes" from the record.
- I really don't wanna go back through those emotions,
but, yes, it was very emotional.
- [Narrator] The prosecution's other eyewitness
from that night was Armand Matthews,
who described how Robinson acted
after having sex at the party house.
- He acknowledged everybody and everything,
and he seemed really shook.
The energy I got off of him
is not friendly energy.
He gave off energy like he was disgusted.
- [Jaimie] Did you say goodbye to the defendant at all?
- I did.
I told him take care, whatever,
and he told me "Y'all gonna see me again."
I didn't know what that was about,
"We'll see you again."
I didn't know what that was about.
- [Narrator] On cross examination,
the defense lawyer focused on
the 911 call that Armand had made.
[dramatic music]
- [Evan] You didn't say who, did you?
- I did not.
- [Evan] And, in fact, in your prior testimony
you indicated that you didn't see
the individual shooting people.
- I did not.
- The defense did a great job
that he couldn't be positively identified.
- [Narrator] So, at the end of the day,
there was still no positive identification
that it was Devon Robinson seen running away from the house.
[dramatic music]
[letters beeping]
- [News Anchor] Okay, welcome back everybody.
So we're about to jump live once again
into the Robinson courtroom,
the man accused of opening fire on multiple individuals,
killing three.
- [Narrator] Members of Detroit's LGBTQ Community
were in the courthouse everyday.
- I ain't gonna lie to y'all,
we did have a plan to attack this man.
Seeing him, instantly it was just
an anger.
It was a hard hatred came over me
to get this man.
- This case was unique in the sense that
it was a hate crime,
however, this crime involved self-hate.
- [Narrator] And prosecutors introduced
jailhouse phone calls,
where Robinson, despite what he told police,
denied he was gay to his mother,
who is a lesbian.
- He wasn't comfortable with who he was,
or who he wanted to be.
He just could not be his true authentic self.
- [Narrator] And to introduce the video
of Robinson's interrogation,
prosecutors called Detective Richard Houser to the stand.
- [Jaimie] Did you interview the defendant in this case,
Devon Robinson?
- Yes, I did.
- [Jaimie] Do you see Mr. Robinson in the courtroom today?
- Yes.
- [Jaimie] Would you please indicate for the record
where he's seated,
and what he's wearing?
- He's at the defense table in black.
I looked at him the whole time,
we were eye to eye,
but this guy, he was just a kid
that turned to be a killer.
- [Jaimie] And was that interview recorded?
- Yes.
- [Jaimie] And is that the subject
of people's exhibit number 51?
- [Richard] Yes.
- [Narrator] Prosecutors played the entire
three-hour interrogation,
including the part where Robinson acknowledged
he couldn't admit he was gay to his family.
- I felt like I wanted to tell them before-
- You wanted to tell them what, that you down low?
- Yeah, but can't.
My mama still don't know I'm not.
[light emotional music]
- [Jaimie] Cross examination.
- [Narrator] On cross examination,
Robinson's lawyer challenged the detective
over the tactics used to get him to admit
he was at the house party.
- [Evan] You're a professional,
you do things in a professional way, right?
- Absolutely.
- [Evan] You lie to defendants, do you not?
- Just doing my job.
- [Evan] That's not the question.
I asked if you lie to defendants.
- To defendants?
- [Evan] Yeah.
- Do I lie?
- [Evan] Yeah, when you interrogate somebody
you lie, correct?
- At times I do, yes.
- [Evan] You lied during this police interrogation, correct?
- Correct.
- [Evan] You lied multiple times to him
during this police interrogation, correct?
- Yeah.
The defense attorney yelled at me quite a bit
during trial,
but I'm used to it.
- [Evan] You're trying to get him
to go along with what you're saying, right?
- [Richard] I'm trying to get him to tell the truth, sir.
- [Evan] What you believe to be the truth.
- [Richard] Right.
- [Evan] He never admitted shooting anybody, did he?
- No, sir.
- [Evan] I have nothing to address.
[dramatic music]
[letters beeping]
- Mr. Robinson, please stand.
Your attorney has indicated on the record
that you do not wish to testify in this case,
do you further indicate that?
- Yes, ma'am.
- So you understand that you have an absolute right
to not testify?
- Yes, ma'am.
- [Judge] And it is in fact your desire
to not testify,
and to waive your right to testify in this case, sir?
- Yes.
- Thank you, you may be seated.
Will you call the jury back out?
- [Narrator] As both sides prepare
to give their closing arguments,
prosecutors were concerned
the jury might take sympathy on Devon.
- He was 18 at the time.
I think a lot of times
people have sympathy for younger people,
but these acts were just,
they were so monstrous.
These acts were monstrous.
Three people lost their lives.
[dramatic music]
[letters beeping]
- Thank you.
Good morning.
This is a case about hate.
It's a case about self-hate.
We know that the defendant wore a mask.
Now does this mean that every time
a shooter disguises himself
that we can never know for sure who it was?
No, that is absolutely not the case.
You don't get to put on a mask,
and get away with mass murder.
Three people lost their life in this case.
Yeah, we want the right person.
Two people survived,
and had to be brave enough to come in here,
and face him down.
So I'm gonna ask that you go in there,
do all the work, look at all the evidence,
and hold the defendant responsible. Thank you.
[soft tense music]
- You're not here, you're not here to judge
the morality of Mr. Robinson.
You're not here to judge the morality
of the victims [indistinct].
Stop and think for just a minute, will you please?
He didn't threaten anybody.
He didn't say "Oh, I'm ashamed of what I did."
He was a willing participant.
He has got absolutely no reason in the world
to go and shoot three individuals,
God forbid be the last one at that party,
because guess what? You get blamed.
The burden is beyond a reasonable doubt.
Your just thinking that it could be him isn't good enough.
You have got to have an abiding conviction
to a moral certainty that it's him.
[dramatic music]
[letters beeping]
- In the courtroom you have the victim's family,
and in this case we have the gay community was there
because it was a high-profile case.
- Every time a jury goes in for me,
it's always nerve wracking.
And it's probably even more nerve wracking
when they say they have a verdict.
- Ladies and gentleman of the jury,
the court has received a note indicating
that you reached a verdict.
Is that correct?
- [Foreperson] That's correct. - [Juror] Yes.
- How do you find the defendant, Devon Robinson,
as to count one, homicide, murder, first degree,
premeditated, Alunte Davis?
- [Jury Member] We find the defendant guilty.
[tense music]
- [Court Clerk] Timothy Blanchard?
- [Juror] Guilty.
- [Court Clerk] Paris Cameron? - [Juror] Guilty.
- He dropped his head.
I'm sure he cried when he got back to his cell.
[letters beeping]
- [Narrator] Because Robinson was 18 years old
at the time of the crime,
Michigan law mandated that he would not
face a sentence of life in prison.
- I'm Paris Cameron mom,
speaking on behalf of him,
I feel like I shouldn't even be in here.
Just being here is really traumatized for me,
so I'm asking you can you please give him
at last 40-60 years, please?
Let my son get his justice.
- I'm speaking on my son,
and the other families,
for the families,
for three families that have to go through this,
I'm sorry.
[gentle music]
- Mr. Robinson, this is your opportunity
if you wish to address the court.
- First I wanna start off by saying
that my actions were 100% unacceptable.
Everyday since May 25, 2019,
I have lived with regret,
and I wish it never happened.
Because of prior traumatic events
I felt deceived, humiliated,
and I became devastated,
and I impulsively overreacted.
I'm talking today because it bothers me everyday
to know the pain I have inflicted on so many others.
So I just want to apologize to anyone
this may have affected over the years.
I hope that my family and friends can forgive me
for their loss.
I pray that the families of Paris Cameron,
Alunte Davis and Timothy Blanchard
can all find forgiveness in their hearts,
and if not I understand because
I still have not forgave myself.
- Thank you.
I appreciate the statements
that you're making on the record today
that you are remorseful.
I appreciate that you are apologizing to the family.
This was not an impulsive act.
You left that home,
you went back to your house,
you changed clothes, you came back,
and you shot three people to death,
and nearly killed two others.
You will be sentenced to no less than 35 years,
and no more than 60 years for each of the three counts
of homicide in the first degree, premeditated.
- I'm glad that we were able to achieve justice for them.
They were free spirits,
they were authentically them.
I knew them to be very proud of who they were.
- I just think that it's really important
that people understand that when people
are not accepted in their communities,
when they are not accepted by their families,
self-hate makes people do terrible things.
[gentle music]