Monday, November 21, 2011 — The Stanly County District Attorney's office continued with presenting the evidence Thursday and Friday in the murder trial against William Eugene Robinson.

Thursday began with a continuation of testimony from Detective John Broadway with the Albemarle Police Department. Broadway was assigned as the lead investigator in the shooting death of Keith Davon Crump, which took place Nov. 16, 2006 at R.J. Tucker Company, Inc. in Albemarle. The owner of the store, Robert J. Tucker III was injured during the incident.

Broadway explained that he had interviewed Robinson on Nov. 18, just two days after the incident and questioned him about what he had done during the week.

“He said he didn't know anything about the shooting and that he had never been inside the store,” Broadway said.

When asked to give an explanation of his impression of Robinson, Broadway said that he remembered the defendant being “neat, well dressed, well spoken, articulate and polite.” Broadway was then asked about a second interview with Robinson that took place on Nov. 22 at the same time that a search warrant was being executed at Robinson's home.

He told the jury that, during this interview, he had received a phone call from the detectives searching the home.

“They told me they had found an invoice from R.J. Tuckers from two days before the shooting,” Broadway said. He added that Robinson was arrested later that day, but had fallen asleep in a holding cell at the Stanly County Jail while waiting for an appearance with the magistrate, a wait that took several hours.

Next to take the witness stand was Ryan Joy, a special agent and forensic scientist with the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI).

Joy was responsible for analyzing evidence taken from the crime scene and inspecting them for latent fingerprints.

He explained that he found nearly 30 latent prints and compared them with prints taken from both Robinson and Tucker.

Twenty-four of the prints returned as positive matches for Robinson, though it was not determined to whom the remaining prints belonged.

The third witness to provide testimony Thursday was Neil Morin, a firearm and tool mark examiner from the SBI Crime Lab. Morin's responsibility in this case was to determine if the two spent shell cases and one projectile found at the crime scene matched the 9mm Jimenez Arms Luger handgun believed to have belonged to Robinson.

He explained to the jury how an expert in his field would go about making this determination by comparing markings on test bullets fired from the same gun with the bullets found at the scene.

According to Morin's testimony, he determined that the bullets were fired from the gun.

First to take the witness stand on Friday was Roger Ridenhour, a detective with Albemarle Police Department.

Ridenhour testified that he had responded to the scene and was asked to get into the ambulance with Crump to see if he could provide any information about the incident.

“He was gasping for the air the whole time he was on the ambulance but he never said anything,” Ridenhour said of Crump.

Ridenhour stayed with Crump throughout the ride to Stanly Regional Medical Center and while in the hospital room but Crump was never able to speak to him.

“He was still gasping for air, and was moving his limbs around,” Ridenhour said.

Before leaving the hospital, Ridenhour collected the clothing from both Crump and Tucker, who had also been transported to the hospital.

Both sets of clothes were entered in as evidence during the trial.

When asked by Robinson's defense counsel Mike Howell, Ridenhour explained that he did not believe the clothes were sent off for testing.

Brian Armor, a special agent with the SBI, was the second witness to testify Friday.

He explained to the jury that his role in the case, which began Nov. 17, was to “assist in any way [he] could, specifically to talk to folks and interview people.”

He interviewed local business owners and employees who might have seen anything from the day before.

During his interviews, Robinson was determined to be a person of interest, so Armor asked him and his girlfriend at the time, Lareka Griffin to come to the police department for an interview.

He assisted Broadway with the interview on Nov. 18 and recalled that Robinson wasn't specifically clear on events from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the week of the shooting, but he was able to provide detailed information from Thursday, the day Crump was shot.

Armor also recalled Robinson saying that he did not know Crump and not been to the store where the shooting took place. He also remembered Robinson saying that he did not own a gun and saying that he was not violent person.

“He was very polite and at times he was soft spoken. But he was well spoken,” Armor said.

Armor then explained that he learned Roger Clark, a witness that testified earlier in the week, had sold Robinson a gun, so a search warrant was issued for Robinson's residence.

“I was the first one through the door,” Armor said, adding that Robinson was not arrested at that time though he did accompany Armor and Broadway back to the Albemarle Police Department.

During the interview with Robinson at the department, Armor explained that he learned of Robinson buying the gun and that Griffin had changed her previous statement that Robinson had been home when she returned from work that day.

He also told Robinson about finding the invoice at his home during the search warrant.

Armor then stated that Robinson crossed his arms and lowered his head for a few moments before saying that he no longer wanted to speak to Armor, which was when Robinson was arrested.

Armor's notes from both interviews were provided to the jury to review, but upon cross examination, it was revealed that neither interview had been recorded.

The cross examination also revealed that Robinson was allowed to go out the back entrance of the department twice during the interviews to smoke, and neither time did he make an attempt to leave.

Robinson's counsel is scheduled to continue with Armor's cross examination at 9:30 a.m. Monday.