This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ryan Randy Robinson defiantly told a 3rd District judge on Wednesday that he did not deliberately kill his girlfriend and said he is the victim of an incompetent police investigation.
"This whole situation has been twisted," insisted Robinson, who said he takes responsibility for the "accidental shooting" of Shantelle Reid but not for murder.
But Judge Roger Dutson, noting he had heard all the evidence presented at Robinson's trial in November, rejected his argument.
"This clearly was not an accident," the judge said before meting out a sentence of up to life in prison.
In addition to first-degree felony murder, jurors convicted the 34-year-old Murray man of third-degree-felony counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a restricted person.
Dutson sentenced Robinson to 16 years to life for the murder, one to five years for the aggravated assault and zero to five years for the firearm count — all to run consecutively to one another. Under the sentence, Robinson will have to serve a minimum of 17 years.
Prosecutors said Robinson shot the 25-year-old woman in the head on April 9, 2012, after a fight, and later pointed a gun at a Murray police officer, who shot and wounded Robinson.
Before Dutson announced the sentence, Robinson's mother and nephew told him the shooting was an accident and described the defendant as a good person who loved Reid. They asked the judge to impose concurrent, rather than consecutive, sentences.
Reid's relatives, though, said they want Robinson to spend the rest of his life and asked for consecutive terms. They said Robinson was abusive but Reid was afraid to leave him because he had threatened to kill her then-3-year-old son and other family members if she did.
Dianne Van Leeuwen, Reid's mother, told Robinson that a now-7-year-old boy is motherless because of what he did. Reid's stepfather, Steven Van Leeuwen, said he was sick that Robinson was still calling the shooting an accident.
Van Leeuwen also said he belongs to an "awful club" of people who have lost a child, adding, "I miss her so much."
Reid's brother, Jay, said Robinson has shown no remorse and a life sentence would help the family heal. His sister loved to help people, he said, and "lit up the room when she walked in."
At trial, the defense said Reid's shooting was a tragic accident that happened while Robinson was handling a new gun given to him for his birthday one day earlier and asked jurors to find their client guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter. But the prosecution said Robinson was furious after he and Reid got into an argument and the shooting was intentional.
Prior to the shooting, Robinson was seen dragging Reid down the street by her hair and punching and kicking her. While witnesses called police, the couple returned to the home of Robinson's parents, where they were house-sitting at the time
When police arrived at the home, Robinson and Reid both denied the fight was physical. Officers, unable to corroborate the witness's 911 call, left.
Less than two hours later, Robinson was shot by Murray Officer David Stallings, who confronted Robinson on the street after dispatchers received a call that Reid had been shot.
Reid was found dead in the house at the bottom of the basement stairs. According to her mother, Reid had wanted to donate a kidney to Jay Reid, who needs a transplant, but that it had been too late to harvest the organ due to the wait for a search warrant.
Twitter: Pamela MansonSLC