BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A Speedville man arrested for attempted second-degree murder pleaded to lesser charges and was sentenced to five years with the Department of Corrections.
Michael Robinson, 60, pleaded to possession of a firearm by a felon, battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Deputies arrested the 60-year-old on November 30, 2024, for attempted second-degree murder.
According to a sheriff’s office social media post, the victim visited Robinson’s residence, and an altercation broke out.
“During the scuffle, Robinson disengaged and retrieved a handgun,” the office reported, “which he proceeded to fire at the victim, emptying the partially loaded magazine.”
The office said Robinson then retrieved a long gun and fired more rounds at the victim, striking him in the lower body.
In a hearing in which prosecutors argued that the defendant be incarcerated until his case was resolved, prosecutors showed body camera video in which the defendant admitted to shooting his nephew because the houseguest refused to leave the defendant’s home after the two had argued and the victim attacked Robinson.
Prosecutors later charged the Melrose man with possession of a firearm by a felon over the incident, omitting the attempted murder charge.
Robinson was released on a $100,000 bond on December 11.
However, two days later, deputies arrested him again after a 36-year-old female told deputies Robinson pointed a handgun at her and struck her with the weapon. She and a 41-year-old man who was with the victim during the incident also claimed the Speedville resident pointed the gun at the male.
“(The victim) stated that she is friends with Michael Robinson, who has been in the Bradford County Jail since November 30, 2024,” wrote Sheriff’s Sergeant Logan Hough in an arrest report. “While in jail, Michael’s house was broken into, and he asked her to lock his house up and take his important papers out of his house so they would not be stolen.”
The sergeant added that according to the female, after the defendant bonded out of jail on the attempted murder charge, her male friend picked her up and drove her to Robinson’s house to return papers the defendant asked her to secure.
According to the victim, after she knocked on the door, Robinson opened the entryway and pushed her in the neck with one hand while holding the handgun in the other.
“(The victim) fell back off the steps and hit the ground,” reported Hough. “She immediately got up and ran to the car and got in. Michael followed her to the car and opened the passenger door, where she was sitting. Michael then hit (the victim) on the right cheek with the gun.”
The woman claimed Robinson then pointed the weapon at her head and pointed it at her male friend, who was driving the car, threatening to kill the pair.
When interviewed at his home about the incident, Robinson told Hough that the alleged victim broke into his house and stole papers, guns, and his vehicle.
According to the lawman, Robinson added that when the victim came to his home, he demanded the woman return his vehicle and other belongings while pushing her shoulder.
“Michael then went back inside his residence and armed himself with a handgun,” Hough wrote. “Michael stated that he never went outside the house with a handgun and denied ever striking or threatening either victim with a gun.”
Hough also wrote that Robinson told deputies he placed the gun on a dryer in the back of the house. However, when officers walked to the rear of the home, they could not find the weapon.
A woman with Robinson in the house at the time of the incident backed up his version of the event.
