Marcus Reymond Robinson (April 2, 1973 – June 9, 2022) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

convicted and sentenced to death in Cumberland County Superior Court for the June 1991 death of Erik Tornblom. Robinson also was sentenced to 40 years in prison for robbery with a dangerous weapon, 10 years for larceny and five years for possessing a

weapon of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...

. In April 2012, he successfully appealed against the death sentence under North Carolina's 2009

Racial Justice Act The North Carolina Racial Justice Act of 2009 prohibited seeking or imposing the death penalty on the basis of race. It passed both the North Carolina State Senate and North Carolina House of Representatives and was signed into law by Governor Bev ...

which allowed for a prisoner under sentence of death to appeal for the sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment if racism is proven to be a factor in the original trial.

North Carolina Superior Court The Superior Court is North Carolina's general jurisdiction trial court. It was established in 1777 and is North Carolina's oldest court. Jurisdiction and administration The Superior Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction in North Caroli ...

judge Gregory Weeks found that the Act was applicable in Robinson's case after his lawyers cited a study from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

indicating that qualified black jurors were systemically excluded from

jury service Jury duty or jury service is service as a juror in a legal proceeding. Juror selection process The prosecutor and defense can dismiss potential jurors for various reasons, which can vary from one state to another, and they can have a specifi ...

, both generally in North Carolina and at Robinson's trial. Consequently, Weeks ordered his removal from death row. Robinson was the first

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

inmate to use the legislation. The Racial Justice Act was repealed in 2013, and two years later the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

vacated the ''North Carolina v. Robinson'' ruling on procedural grounds, because the prosecutors had not had enough time to prepare for the hearing. A new trial court dismissed Robinson's case, and he filed an appeal to the state's Supreme Court in May 2017. Robinson died of an apparent suicide after he was found unresponsive in his cell at 12:14pm on June 9, 2022. Prison first responders performed live-saving measures until paramedics arrived, and pronounced him dead at 12:35pm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Marcus 1973 births 2022 deaths 1991 murders in the United States 21st-century African-American people 21st-century American criminals American people convicted of murder American people who died in prison custody People convicted of murder by North Carolina Prisoners sentenced to death by North Carolina Murderers who died by suicide in prison custody Suicides in North Carolina