August was convicted of the murder of Alvin Robinson, 73
Today, Gregory August, 24, was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of murder of Alvin Robinson, 73, on Wednesday, November 21, 2012.
August was convicted of killing the crippled and blind Alvin Robinson, 73, on May 23, 2009. Police said that the murder was out of retaliation after August and Robinson’s son got into an altercation at his residence.
Robinson was stabbed several times in his neck and shoulder, and according to the testimony of the doctor, he would not have lived longer than an hour after suffering from those injuries.
August was convicted on very strong circumstantial evidence, including being seen leaving the scene with a white cloth in his hand, later learnt to be his bloodied white shirt; his blood-stained tennis shoes, which matched the tennis print lifted from the murder area; and August putting himself there in his dock statement, telling the court that he was there earlier to purchase some weed.
Two women presented themselves as character witnesses for August – Avis Williams, and Rosilia Almendarez, August’s grandmother.
Williams told the court that she has known August for over ten years and that he used to visit her house very often before her son moved away to Punta Gorda. She continued that she has never known him to be a trouble-maker, and that he was never around 8 Miles drunk or anything like that.
Almendarez told the court that August has been in her care since his birth, and even more since his mother left to reside in New York when he was only 13. She further stated that after his mother left for the U.S.A., he would always be at home playing with his dog. She ended by stating that she could not believe what people said her grandson has done since she does not know him to be that type of person.
Lionel Welch, who represented August, told the court that his client had had two previous offenses, one of which had resulted in a conviction. He also submitted to the court that since he was still young, if the sentence could be one that (1) taught him the seriousness of the offense he is convicted of; and (2) that it be one that would allow him to be productive in his second life, it would be good for him.
After listening to the mitigation on August’s behalf, Justice Adolph Lucas told the court that since the death penalty was not sought for by the prosecutor, the alternative is life in prison. He then went on to sentence August to life in prison, effective May 26, 2009, the date he was remanded for this crime.