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Mistrial declared for most charges against man accused of shooting stray bullet that struck mother of two in 2021

The trial for Douglas Robinson Jr., the man accused of firing a stray bullet that struck a 25-year-old mother of two in the head in the 600 block of Maple Street in 2021 ended in a mistrial with the jury hung on charges of aggravated assault-attempts to cause serious bodily injury or causes injury with extreme difference, discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure, possession of a weapon and recklessly endangering another person, following a two day trial in the courtroom of President Judge Eric Linhardt.

The jury of five men and seven women found Robinson guilty of firearms not to be carried without a license.

Day two of the trial kicked off with testimony from the man driving the vehicle from which the shot was fired.

That witness, now 24, said that he had known Robinson since fourth or fifth grade, and had even given him a ride back from out of state around 2021, after which Robinson stayed with him for a brief time.

During that time, Robinson had clothing and a safe at the witness’ house, though he stated he was unaware of what was inside, he testified.

The safe was turned over to police following a stop on the witness’ vehicle six weeks after the shooting.

He and Robinson were leaving the YMCA on the date in question and heading to a local dollar store when Robinson realized he did not have his wallet on him and requested to be taken home.

Upon turning onto Memorial Avenue, the two men saw a group of three individuals they were not on good terms with standing on a corner between Locus and Cherry streets.

As they drove by, one of those individuals made a gun symbol with his hand pointed at the witness’ Jeep, he testified.

"I got something for them," Robinson said, before retrieving a handgun from his backpack with his left hand and firing three shots out of the passenger window in the direction of the group, the witness said.

The witness stated his belief that those on the street returned gunfire.

"I swear I heard something after Doug shot," he testified, though he acknowledged that his car was not struck.

Despite this, the witness said that he was told by Robinson to not panic and to "drive slow."

After learning that a woman had been wounded in the area of the shooting, the witness said he was scared.

"I lost countless nights sleeping. I prayed a lot for her," he said.

When he and Robinson spoke about the incident, Robinson told him not to worry.

"Bro, its good. We good. I hope she pulls through," Robinson told him, according to court testimony.

During cross examination by defense attorney Matthew Deimer, the witness acknowledged that his vehicle was equipped with dark window tint, and initially testified that the incident had occurred during daylight hours.

When pressed on the fact that the incident occurred after 8 p.m. in the middle of October, the witness stated that he could have been mistaken about the time.

"I thought it was daytime. She told me it was night time," the witness said referring to city Agent Brittany Alexander.

"Bad blood" existed between the witness and the three men standing on the corner, with one of them having punch him in the face prior to the incident, he testified.

It was alleged that one of the men fired on fired on him as he was driving a rental car on Nov. 16, 2021.

Despite previously testifying that he was unaware of what was in the safe, the witness contradicted himself during cross examination, first stating that his then-girlfriend, and later, that he had seen an extended magazine through a small hole in the safe.

"We didn’t know what was in there. My girlfriend looked through the hole as she was turning it over to police," he said, later stating that police had informed of multiple items within the safe prior to his testimony.

When confronted with his testimony that he was concerned for the victim, but did not contact police by Deimer, the witness said that he was in fear.

"I was scared. I can’t live a normal life. I can’t go out in public with my family," he said, adding that he still has nightmares about the incident.

The witness also testified that he was unaware of a December 2021 interview with police that city Agent Brittany Alexander previously testified that he had not shown up for.

He only appeared for an interview after retaining counsel and receiving a letter from the Lycoming County District Attorney’s Office promising to not use any information gleaned from the interview against him and to not arrest him that day, Deimer stressed.

During his April 2024 interview, the witness told Alexander that he was originally planning to lie to her, according to a transcript of the interview entered into evidence by Deimer.

"I used the word ‘lie,’ wrong. I meant that I wasn’t planning to speak," he told Deimer when questioned on the statement.

During that interview, he was also made aware that authorities knew he was the driver of the vehicle, the witness testified.

Deimer also called into question the motive for the witness’ testimony by pointing out that the witness’ then-recent-ex-girlfriend had been "talking to" Robinson during the time of the shooting.

No charges are pending against the witness, Alexander testified.

The witness’ account of him and Robinson playing basketball at the YMCA was called into question when Deimer called an executive director for the Williamsport branch, who testified that the organizations system that tracks membership check-ins and other transactions did not register any activity on Oct. 12, 2021, though he added that people using the facility will sometimes bypass the membership desk.

Robinson and the witness each purchased day passes to the facility on Oct. 14 and 15, he testified.

A DNA expert with the state police also testified that both the driver’s and Robinson’s DNA were present on an extended magazine as well as bullets for the gun.

Likening the journey from Robinson’s presumed innocence to finding him guilty to traveling across a wooden bridge in his closing argument, Deimer argued that the prosecution have many missing slats in their proverbial bridge.

"If you would pause before crossing a bridge made up of the commonwealth’s case, you must find my client not guilty," he said.

"They bear the sole burden of proving that Douglas Robinson was in that vehicle and pulled the trigger," Deimer told the jury.

"And they have not been able to provide any credible, objective or unbiased evidence to establish that," he said.

Tackling the witnesses one by one, Deimer stressed that neither the victim or any of the many law enforcement officers that testified in the proceedings could definitively identify Robinson as the man who pulled the trigger.

The testimony of Alexander merely told the story of Robinson being found with the firearm used in the shooting six months later, within the same Jeep Cherokee from where the shots were alleged to have been fired from, he said..

"November evidence does not equal October evidence," Deimer told the jury.

"Agent Alexander was provided the names of the three individuals who were shot at, but they were never talked to because she said they ‘weren’t police friendly,’" he told the jury.

"Tough crap! You’re the police, you have the authority to go and speak with people. But the effort was never made. They never even tried," Deimer said.

In fact, all the evidence taken together painted a picture of the driver of the Jeep being more involved than the jury was led to believe, the defense attorney said.

"The firearm is found in his Jeep, the lockbox is from his house, two anonymous tips name him, not Douglas Robinson," Deimer said.

"You heard the driver talk about how sick he was after he learned of the victim being injured. How he lost sleep. How he prayed for this woman. Yet it wasn’t enough for him to contact the police. He couldn’t even make an anonymous tip," he told the jury.

Further, he continued to hang out with Mr. Robinson afterwards," Deimer said.

"How sincere was he," the defense attorney asked.

"He just let it go until two and a half years later before deciding to finally do the right thing. That’s a lot of time to be able to come up with a story," Deimer said.

"He testified that he had recently found about Mr. Robinson possibly messing around with the mother of his children. He was "expletive." He said it himself," Deimer said.

Additionally, it was not until he received the previously mentioned letter from District Attorney’s Office that the driver came in for an interview, at which time he was made aware that authorities knew of his involvement.

"That’s even more motivation to come up with a story," said Deimer, who also stressed the many contradictory statements made during the driver’s testimony.

With dark tinted windows on the Jeep, Deimer also questioned how the three targets could have known Robinson was inside, rather than recognizing the Jeep as belonging to the driver.

"He had another run-in in November, when he was shot at while in a rental car, not in his Jeep, not in the presence of my client," he said.

"I wonder why. Could it be because he had previously shot at them," Deimer asked.

"The three individuals on the street were not interviewed, the owner of the firearm wasn’t interviewed, there was no GPS or message information from the driver’s phone entered into evidence," the defense attorney said, urging the jury to use common sense in evaluating the evidence.

"There are so many missing boards and frayed ropes. There is far too much inconsistency and missing information," he said.

"It is a leap for the commonwealth to ask you to find Douglas Robinson guilty," Deimer said.

Drawing a comparison between high school senior photos and photos of Robinson with the firearm used in the shooting, First Assistant District Attorney Martin Wade said the gun must have held some importance for Robinson.

During the November seizure of the driver’s vehicle, Robinson had just enough time to remove the gun from his pocket, Wade said.

"Six weeks later, that gun was still loaded with the same type of ammunition that almost killed the victim. The same ammunition that was found in the roadway near the shooting in the same vehicle," he said.

"He’s still carrying the gun around, probably out of fear for his life, of retaliation at this point," Wade said.

"That’s a pretty big clue that can’t be ignored. And it also whittles down the suspect list," the ADA said.

"Mr. Robinson’s attorney would like you to believe that all this evidence is just a coincidence. I would submit to you that that is not a reasonable argument," he said.

Wade called the interview given by the driver "remarkable" considering he was not given any police details of the case beforehand.

"He wasn’t told of any testing done or evidence collected. Only an eyewitness could’ve provided such an accurate account," he said, noting that the driver’s description of the direction of shots matched where they impacted.

"There are two competing theories in this case. Ours is obviously that Mr. Robinson pulled the trigger. The defense theory is that the driver set out to frame Mr. Robinson, a friend from childhood," Wade said.

"He had nothing to gain. There was no evidence he committed a crime. He’s not receiving any special treatment," the ADA said.

"The only thing he stands to gain is retaliation and fear. It doesn’t make sense," he implored the jury.

"There is no information available as to why, out of everyone in the universe, he would pick this guy to blame," Wade said.

"The physical evidence shows that it was Douglas Robinson who pulled the trigger and almost killed an innocent victim," he said.