Compromise: Feds drop drug charges after man admits to shooting DEA agent in raid
Minutes before his trial was scheduled to start, an Orangeburg man pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to shooting a DEA agent during a wild pre-dawn drug raid at the man’s house last October.
In return for the guilty plea by Joel Robinson, 32, federal prosecutors agreed to drop three major drug-related charges against Robinson – charges that could have netted him 30 years to life in prison.
Instead, Robinson will now be exposed to a maximum of eight years in prison, and prosecutors and defense attorneys have agreed to recommend a sentence of eight years in prison for shooting the DEA agent
The plea deal was a compromise by both sides, according to information in some of the 100-plus pre-trial legal documents that are part of the public record. Judge Michelle Childs still must formally accept the deal, and formal sentencing will take place in a month or two.
In pretrial documents, defense attorneys had contended the drug charges against Robinson were deeply flawed and the government couldn’t possibly hope to convince a jury that Robinson was guilty of them. Not only does Robinson not have a criminal record, the DEA raid team failed to turn up any solid evidence at all linking Robinson to drugs or drug money, according to defense court documents. The government’s main human witness on the drug charges against Robinson was a Georgia alleged drug trafficker who stood to get a sweetheart deal in return for testifying against Robinson.
However, federal laws concerning shooting DEA or other agents who are performing legal duties are quite strict – in most cases, it doesn’t matter if the person who shoots a DEA agent isn’t aware he is shooting an agent. Childs had ruled, however, that Robinson would be allowed –in his case – to plead self-defense to the jury .
In Robinson’s case, evidence indicated he was sleeping in his Orangeburg house last Oct. 20 when one set of agents banged on his door and another broke a side window. Robinson, sleeping in the nude, awoke suddenly, grabbed his gun and fired four shots at a wall in front of the broken window and then ran out a rear door, firing two times, according to evidence in the case.
A bullet from Robinson’s last two shots struck DEA Agent Barry Wilson, who was in the back yard and who was wearing a DEA helmet and a bulletproof vest clearly marked “Police.” Agents hollered “Police!” and the naked Robinson dropped his gun.
Had there been a trial, Robinson would have claimed in the few seconds after he woke, he believed he was the target of home invaders and only fired in self defense. The government would have claimed he should have known it was a DEA raid because agents surrounding the house were yelling “Police!” and a car was in the front yard with a flashing blue light, according to legal documents.
Wilson, one of more than a dozen law officers surrounding the house, was hit in the right elbow and forearm. His recovery likely will take more than a year and he is expected to lose some use of that arm, according to testimony in a pretrial hearing.
All federal prosecutors refused comment. In all, more than 30 DEA agents – many dressed in suits instead of their usual scruffy undercover garb – were in court to support Wilson.
Robinson’s attorneys, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, said their client was pleased. Robinson “absolutely regrets shooting the officer,” Harpootlian said. Harpootlian also praised the federal agents on the scene at the raid who held their fire in the seconds after Robinson had shot their friend and threw down his gun. “They were very restrained – thank God the FBI and DEA officers did not kill him.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2015 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Compromise: Feds drop drug charges after man admits to shooting DEA agent in raid."