Milwaukee man gets life in prison for killing and dismembering a woman on first date
A jury convicted Maxwell Anderson in June of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, arson and hiding a corpse in connection with Sade Robinson's death last year. He maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
Parents lash out during hearing
During a sentencing hearing that was by turns somber, emotional and horrifying, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Laura Crivello repeatedly questioned how Anderson could commit such a heinous crime. Prosecutors related details of how Anderson cut up Robinson's body and dumped one of her legs in a playground.
Robinson's mother, Sheena Scarborough, said Anderson 'messed the entire community up" and deserves no protection in prison.
'Judge, I'm asking this demon be respectfully returned back to hell as soon as possible,' Scarborough said.
Robinson's father, Carlos Robinson, suggested to the judge that someone dismember Anderson.
'Everything that he did should be done to him,' he said. 'No man should be able to live after what he did. That's just how I feel. I can't get past this. I can't.'
Mandatory life sentence
First-degree intentional homicide in Wisconsin carries a mandatory life sentence. The only question for Anderson was whether the judge would allow him to seek parole.
Anderson's attorney, Tony Cotton, asked the judge to make Anderson eligible for parole after 25 years. He argued that Anderson served in the U.S. Navy and suffers from obvious mental health issues.
Cotton acknowledged that Anderson has been convicted of multiple misdemeanor disorderly conduct counts in connection with domestic violence but they're not significant offenses compared to most homicide defendants. He added that he has concerns about Anderson's safety in prison.
'That is a real consideration,' Cotton said. 'At the end of the day, there is not mob justice in this country.'
Anderson says he didn't do it
Anderson told the judge that he's innocent and plans to appeal his convictions. He didn't elaborate, although Crivello later noted that Anderson had told an investigator that some stranger must have kidnapped Robinson after she left his apartment following their date.
'I hope true justice will be delivered,' Anderson said Friday.
'Unconscionable' crimes out of a horror story, judge says
Crivello refused to offer Anderson a chance at parole. She dismissed Anderson's claims of innocence, saying his view of reality 'differs from the rest of the world." Trailing off at times and shaking her head, she said he's irredeemable, called his crimes 'unconscionable' and likened the case to something out of a horror novel.
'It's beyond imaginable to not know whether your child is dead or alive, and then learn they're dismembered and disgraced, is beyond understanding,' she said.
She also sentenced Anderson to 7 1/2 years on the dismemberment count and a year and a half on the arson charge. Online court records indicate she dismissed the fourth count of hiding a corpse on Friday after Cotton argued Anderson can't be convicted of both mutilating and hiding a corpse.
First date turns deadly
Anderson and Robinson met at bar in March 2024 a week before her death. Surveillance video and cellphone text and tracking records show they spent the late afternoon and early evening of April 1 drinking at two bars before heading back to Anderson's apartment.
Photos on Anderson's phone show Anderson groping Robinson as she lay face down on his couch. Prosecutors have argued she was incapacitated and couldn't resist.
Surveillance video shows her car leaving his apartment early on the morning of April 2 and arriving at a park along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Prosecutors maintain that's where he cut her body into pieces. He later burned her car behind an abandoned building and took a bus home.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Convicted Idaho murderer Bryan Kohberger moved to solitary confinement, KTVB reports
Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty to the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, has been moved to solitary confinement, CNN affiliate KTVB reported. Kohberger has been transferred to long-term restrictive housing in J Block at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, an Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) spokesperson told KTVB on Thursday. Located about nine miles south of Boise, the facility is Idaho's only maximum-security prison and houses some of the state's 'most disruptive male residents.' Kohberger's listing on the IDOC's website confirms he is housed on J Block. CNN has reached out to the department for further details. J Block can house up to 128 people, including those in protective custody and on death row, according to KTVB. Inmates in long-term restrictive housing are held in single-person cells, moved in restraints, allowed one hour of outdoor recreation daily and permitted to shower every other day, IDOC told KTVB. Kohberger was placed in solitary confinement more than a week after being sentenced to life in prison without parole. He declined to speak during his sentencing hearing in late July. The victims' families say they still don't know his motive. The Idaho Maximum Security Institution has faced criticism for its conditions and treatment of inmates in solitary confinement. Last year 90 inmates organized a six-day hunger strike to protest delays in access to medical care, long bouts of isolation and 'cages' used for recreational time, the Idaho Statesman reported. Some inmates described the 'cages' as large chain link-like metal boxes, littered with urine and feces. Other men housed in a lower-security section told the Statesman the space is often littered with trash and bodily fluids, claiming the facility's ventilation system hasn't been cleaned in decades. The IDOC told CNN in July the 'recreation enclosures' are regularly cleaned, and individuals can request vent cleaning in their cells if needed. Following the hunger strike, the department said it 'developed ways to increase vocational and educational opportunities, religious services, and recreation opportunities.' 'Safety is our number one priority for everyone living and working in our facilities,' the department told CNN. The prison's strict solitary confinement policies have also drawn concern. Kevin Kempf, who served as director of the IDOC in 2016, told CNN affiliate KBOI at the time that inmates were confined alone for up to 23 hours a day with little human interaction, received meals in their cells, and were allowed showers only three times a week. The corrections' department has since implemented a step-down program that gradually transitions inmates from solitary confinement to a more open environment, including stages where they can interact with others, KBOI reported. In its statement to CNN, the department said: 'Long term restrictive housing is not a disciplinary sanction, it is a housing assignment designed to manage specific behaviors.'
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Vivienne Westwood Limited Responds to Artists' Legal Complaint
In a court filing, Vivienne Westwood Limited has responded to the legal complaint made by three street artists that claim the designer label and Farfetch sold apparel imprinted with their artwork. Earlier this year, the graffiti specialists' complaint claimed that the British designer's company 'inexplicably, and without notice, let alone consent, prominently splashed the artists' work across their apparel in a transparent effort to lend credibility and an aura of urban cool to their apparel by co-opting the plaintiffs' special combination of graffiti style and street art.' The artists are seeking a juried trial and an unspecified amount in damages. More from WWD LeRoy Neiman's Fashion Illustrations to Be Focus of Kent State University Museum Show On This Oxford Campus, the Boys Dress With Character Fendi Opens Permanent Footwear Space at Harrods In Westwood's 14-page response, which was submitted Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, Vivienne Westwood Limited, Latimo SA (an Italian arm of the company) and Vivienne Westwood Srl said they lack sufficient information to admit or deny the allegations and, therefore, those allegations are denied. The Vivienne Westwood defendants deny that they have committed any acts that violate any law. The parties noted that the apparel in question does not contain any copyright management information that is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The legal battle is based on the outdoor street art that the artists claim was used by Westwood's company without their permission. Jeffrey Gluck, an attorney for the three artists, said Friday that the response was 'especially disappointing coming from Vivienne Westwood, who has built an entire brand and aesthetic on the backs of countercultures and rebels. To now allegedly threaten to erode the legal protection for an entire community of artists, instead of simply paying them for using their artwork, is pathetic,' Gluck said. 'The global graffiti community is not new to this fight, and they will stand up for their rights now just as they always have in the face of unjust corporate exploitation.' Gluck suggested that a fashion label had not made a similar defense since years-old copyright dispute between the street artist Revok and H&M over one of the Swedish conglomerate's advertising campaigns. In 2018, a settlement was reportedly reached that included H&M agreeing to fund a handful of Detroit art institutions and charities. Best of WWD 'Wednesday' on Netflix: All the Costumes on Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones and More Why Tennis Players Wear All White at Wimbledon: The Championships' Historic Dress Code Explained Kate Middleton's Looks at Trooping the Colour Through the Years [PHOTOS]
CNN
23 minutes ago
- CNN
Convicted Idaho murderer Bryan Kohberger moved to solitary confinement: report
Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty to the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, has been moved to solitary confinement, CNN affiliate KTVB reported. Kohberger has been transferred to long-term restrictive housing in J Block at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, an Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) spokesperson told KTVB on Thursday. Located about nine miles south of Boise, the facility is Idaho's only maximum-security prison and houses some of the state's 'most disruptive male residents.' Kohberger's listing on the IDOC's website confirms he is housed on J Block. CNN has reached out to the department for further details. J Block can house up to 128 people, including those in protective custody and on death row, according to KTVB. Inmates in long-term restrictive housing are held in single-person cells, moved in restraints, allowed one hour of outdoor recreation daily and permitted to shower every other day, IDOC told KTVB. Kohberger was placed in solitary confinement more than a week after being sentenced to life in prison without parole. He declined to speak during his sentencing hearing in late July. The victims' families say they still don't know his motive. The Idaho Maximum Security Institution has faced criticism for its conditions and treatment of inmates in solitary confinement. Last year 90 inmates organized a six-day hunger strike to protest delays in access to medical care, long bouts of isolation and 'cages' used for recreational time, the Idaho Statesman reported. Some inmates described the 'cages' as large chain link-like metal boxes, littered with urine and feces. Other men housed in a lower-security section told the Statesman the space is often littered with trash and bodily fluids, claiming the facility's ventilation system hasn't been cleaned in decades. The IDOC told CNN in July the 'recreation enclosures' are regularly cleaned, and individuals can request vent cleaning in their cells if needed. Following the hunger strike, the department said it 'developed ways to increase vocational and educational opportunities, religious services, and recreation opportunities.' 'Safety is our number one priority for everyone living and working in our facilities,' the department told CNN. The prison's strict solitary confinement policies have also drawn concern. Kevin Kempf, who served as director of the IDOC in 2016, told CNN affiliate KBOI at the time that inmates were confined alone for up to 23 hours a day with little human interaction, received meals in their cells, and were allowed showers only three times a week. The corrections' department has since implemented a step-down program that gradually transitions inmates from solitary confinement to a more open environment, including stages where they can interact with others, KBOI reported. In its statement to CNN, the department said: 'Long term restrictive housing is not a disciplinary sanction, it is a housing assignment designed to manage specific behaviors.'
