Robinson conviction upheld in 2006 murder of Wichita 14-year-old Chelsea Brooks

Elgin Ray Robinson Jr.’s conviction for the murder of 14-year-old Chelsea Brooks was upheld by the Kansas Supreme Court on Friday morning.

Robinson was convicted of capital murder, rape, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

He had offered to pay a friend $1,000 to kill Chelsea, a middle school student who was nine months pregnant with Robinson’s child at the time of her death.

Marc Bennett, a Sedgwick County deputy district attorney who helped prosecute Robinson, said this afternoon he was pleased with the court’s decision. “I know the Brooks family cannot forget what happened to Chelsea, but I hope they can now forget about Mr. Robinson,” Bennett said.

The court’s decision means it will be unlikely Robinson will ever get out of prison; the only appeal avenue left to him now would be in the federal courts, “and he would face a difficult task there,” Bennett said.

Robinson was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, plus 247 months, after a jury failed to reach an agreement on whether he should receive the death penalty.

Robinson sought a new trial, in part arguing that the court erred in failing to suppress evidence about Internet searches Robinson conducted on how to kill a baby, how to have a miscarriage, and how to find a missing person. Robinson, a cafeteria worker, had argued that the search of a computer he used in the building where he worked violated his privacy. The Supreme Court disagreed. “Robinson lacked an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy in the Internet searches he conducted,” the court said.

Robinson also argued that some of his statements to detectives regarding Chelsea’s disappearance and murder shouldn’t have been allowed in court. Again the court disagreed: “While detectives repeatedly confronted Robinson with the evidence, there is no suggestion that they lied about the evidence during any point in the interview and although Robinson indicated during the interview that he was ‘tired’ and could not ‘keep his head up,’ it is clear from the transcript and recording of the interview that Robinson responded appropriately and coherently to questions asked.”

Chelsea disappeared June 9, 2006, after she went to a skating rink in Wichita with friends. She left the skating rink with Robinson’s friend, Everett Gentry, who had promised to take her to see Robinson. Six days later her body was discovered buried face down in a shallow grave in a field near Andover.

Gentry admitted his role in Brooks’ murder and had testified for the prosecution against Robinson and another man, Ted Burnett. Those two men also went to prison; Gentry received life in prison with parole possible after 25 years. Burnett received a life sentence without parole.

Gentry had testified that he picked Chelsea up on the pretense of taking her to see Robinson, the father of her unborn child who was accused of arranging the murder to avoid being charged with raping her. Gentry said that while he drove her to a remote spot in Butler County where she would be buried, he reached back to the backseat and tapped Burnett to signal Burnett to kill her. He said he turned up the radio as Burnett choked Chelsea from behind.

This story was originally published March 2, 2012 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Robinson conviction upheld in 2006 murder of Wichita 14-year-old Chelsea Brooks."