Allen Wade Robinson Jr. sentenced to life in prison in 2008 stabbing murder

ALBANY — Allen Wade Robinson Jr., who pleaded guilty in Dougherty Superior Court to charges including felony murder in a 2008 slaying, was sentenced to life in prison plus 35 years by Judge Stephen Goss on Tuesday.

Robinson stabbed to death his estranged girlfriend, Roshanda Dowell, in the parking lot of Pic N’ Save, a grocery store on East Oglethorpe Boulevard, on Nov. 5, 2008.

Robinson pleaded guilty to felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated stalking and possession of a knife in the commission of a felony.

He was originally charged with six additional counts of criminal offenses against Dowell, including malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury and aggravated circumstances, with several of the charges merged into the four he pleaded to.

Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards said Robinson decided during jury trial selection Monday to enter a “blind” plea, or a plea in which there was no specific recommendation or agreement from the state as to sentencing.

The district attorney’s office initially had sought the death penalty in the case but reversed that decision, Edwards said, after a change in Georgia law allowed prosecutors to selectively seek a penalty of life in prison with no possibility of parole without first seeking the death penalty.

“There were also considerations of Robinson’s claim that he was mentally retarded,” Edwards said. “If he were successful in convincing the court of that, Georgia law doesn’t allow the execution of retarded prisoners.”

According to Edwards, even though Robinson’s life sentence includes the possibility of parole, the effective outcome of Tuesday’s hearing is no more beneficial to Robinson than the longest sentence he was likely have received at trial.

“In real terms, even though (Robinson’s) life sentence includes the possibility of parole, he won’t be eligible for 30 years,” Edwards said, “and when you add 35 years to that, it’s certain he’ll never leave prison.”

Edwards said he thought the initial strategy of Robinson’s defense was to try to convince the jury that his actions in killing Dowell sprang from a “sudden irresistible passion” caused by his mental illness and retardation.

“If they could do that, there would be a chance of reducing the murder charges to voluntary manslaughter, with a reduced penalty,” Edwards said, “but there was also a chance the judge would throw it out and the jury never hear it.”

Officials say Robinson, a former detention officer at the Dougherty County jail, had a history of physically abusing Dowell, having been charged on Sept. 30, 2008, for allegedly beating her in front of her two children. On Oct. 3 a temporary protective order was issued by the district attorney’s office.

The temporary order was made permanent on Oct 28, officials say, but on Nov. 5, 2008, Robinson found Dowell at the Pic N’ Save and stabbed her to death.