FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
April 20, 2018
For More Information, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Steve Marshall
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 1
Alabama Attorney General
AG STEVE MARSHALL ANNOUNCES COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
UPHOLDS MOBILE COUNTY FELONY MURDER CONVICTION
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the Alabama Court
of Criminal Appeals has upheld the felony murder conviction of Hiawatha Robinson.
Robinson, 42, of Semmes, was convicted in Mobile County Circuit Court in September of
2016 for the murder of his daughter, Hiawayi Robinson.
Evidence presented at trial showed that on September 16, 2014, Robinson picked up
his eight-year-old daughter, Hiawayi, from her mother and grandmother’s residence.
However, a short time after she left to meet him, he called her mother and grandmother
and claimed he had never picked her up. Robinson insisted he had not seen Hiawayi since
the Friday before.
A wide-ranging search began which included elements of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), and the Prichard and Mobile
police departments. The girl was found two days later partially disrobed on a rarely
traveled road in a location Robinson used to work, but which is presently used as a
dumpsite. Expert testimony indicated that the girl died from positional asphyxia while
being sodomized. Several days of testimony linked Robinson to the murder including false
statements by Robinson to law enforcement, items of the girl that she was wearing that day
found in Robinson’s car, and videos from business establishments indicating that the victim
was in fact in Robinson’s car shortly after he picked her up.
The case was prosecuted at trial by Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich’s
Office. Circuit Judge Charles A. Graddick sentenced Robinson to 100 years imprisonment
and Robinson subsequently sought to have his conviction reversed on appeal. The Attorney
General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled Robinson’s case during the appeals process,
arguing for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm the conviction. The Court did
so in a decision issued Friday, April 20.
Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Ferris Stephens
of the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Section for his successful work in this case.
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501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us
