AUGUSTA — A man who repeatedly beat and threatened his live-in girlfriend over two days in his Chelsea home in April 2013 was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison.
Robert A. Robinson Jr., 45, of Chelsea, was in Kennebec County Superior Court wearing a green jail uniform, a tattoo visible on his right arm. He has been in custody for more than a year and sported a full, graying beard and neck-length dark hair in contrast to his clean-shaven and short-haired appearance earlier.
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His 10-year prison sentence is to be followed by a five-year suspended sentence and two years of probation for the domestic violence and a host of other offenses.
“I’m very sorry for what I’ve done,” Robinson told Justice Donald Marden at the sentencing Monday.
Robinson and his attorney, William Baghdoyan, said prescription drugs played a role in the incident: Robinson had mixed his psychiatric medication — Seroquel, which is used to treat bipolar disorder, and Klonopin, which is used to treat anxiety — with a free sample of Ambien, a sleep medication. Robinson said he recalled nothing of what had happened.
Robinson, according to the judge’s verdict, has been diagnosed with a “major neurocognitive disorder due to traumatic brain injury” and has had “great difficulty controlling his emotions without proper medication and has become subject to very violent outbursts.”
The case drew a lot of attention because the prosecutor had the victim, Jessica Ruiz, arrested to ensure her appearance at trial, igniting a debate about victims’ rights and due process. Ruiz’s attorney said she never received a subpoena to appear at trial until she was in jail.
In a separate case more recently, a victim was arrested after refusing to respond to a subpoena to appear at a trial.
Ruiz testified at Robinson’s trial on the domestic violence charges. On Monday, Ruiz told the judge she blamed the assault on medications a psychiatrist prescribed for Robinson the morning of April 12, 2013, and said she wanted to continue to have contact with him.
“He’s been my best friend,” she said, telling the judge they have had a five-year relationship. “To put him away for a (long) period is just going to cause suffering for him rather than rehabilitating.”
She declined comment after the hearing.
Assistant District Attorney Frayla Schoenfeld referred to some of the evidence that was presented at Robinson’s trial last fall.
“It was brutal and sustained beatings with a belt and hands and resulted in Ms. Ruiz being terrified and hysterical at the end,” Schoenfeld said.
Investigators said the assault, which involved her being beaten on the head with a broken broomstick, took place April 12-13 and included threats against her life. Robinson’s mother, who lived next door to the couple and visited them each morning, found Ruiz crying and saw some of her injuries and had her leave.
Ruiz drove to her mother’s home in Monmouth and police were called.
Schoenfeld said Robinson had a history of committing assaults on family members and intimate partners and that the long sentence was needed “for the protection of the public. This defendant has violated the law in very brutal ways with people who are close to him.”
Robinson said he takes medication to help him sleep and to overcome his high levels of anxiety.
“I love Jess very much,” Robinson said. “We were arguing. Things were going on; that wasn’t me.”
In his verdict following the non-jury trial, Marden rejected defense arguments that Robinson was sleepwalking and in an altered state of consciousness and therefore unaware of what he was doing most of the three-day period when Ruiz was assaulted.
Marden wrote in his 10-page written verdict, “From the undisputed facts, it appears that the defendant engaged in a domestic violence assault, domestic violence criminal threatening and domestic violence terrorizing against Ms. Jessica Ruiz.”
Marden also said that Robinson had a history of being abusive and that Robinson “had suffered serious head injuries in two motorcycle crashes, the latest in 2012, resulting in some cognitive challenges.”
Robinson pleaded guilty to violating conditions of release and violating a protective order. A charge of tampering with a victim was dismissed in exchange for the plea. On Monday, Schoenfeld told the judge that Robinson called Ruiz from the jail and wrote a letter to her in violation of bail conditions and in violation of a protective order, which was placed April 16, 2013.
Robinson was on probation at the time of the offense for previous convictions on five counts each of gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact.
Defense attorney Baghdoyan told the judge there was a joint recommendation on sentencing that would cover all the charges, and that Robinson would serve a 10-year prison term that had been suspended in that case concurrently with a five-year suspended sentence from this case and be placed on two years’ probation when he is released.
Conditions of probation require him to continue mental health counseling and to attend a certified batterers’ intervention program, and he is prohibited from having contact with Ruiz until he has completed a third of the program.
The judge and the attorneys noted there was no ban on Robinson having contact with Ruiz while he is imprisoned.
“I think under the circumstances and history of this case, visitation while he’s incarcerated is not a problem,” Marden said. “While he’s on probation, he’s going to be free and he needs to understand how this relationship is going to work.”
Last September, after Ruiz was arrested, Deborah Shepherd, executive director of the Family Violence Project, issued a statement saying that arresting a victim isn’t unprecedented.
“Sometimes, sadly, this may be the most appropriate choice,” Shepherd said. “Abusers need to be held accountable, and part of that accountability is effective prosecution.”
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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