Man found guilty of illegal gun possession, not guilty of other charges in Columbia murder trial

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man accused in a murder trial was found guilty of illegal gun possession Thursday night at the Boone County Courthouse.

Thursday marked the second day of 52-year-old Leo Robinson Jr.'s trial for his alleged involvement in a 2021 murder outside of Waffle House on Vandiver Drive in north Columbia.

The jury began deliberations around 6:40 p.m. Thursday. Robinson was found guilty shortly after 9 p.m. of being a felon in possession of a gun. He was found not guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Judge Brouck Jacobs said the guilty verdict could carry a 15-year maximum sentence.

"But the defendant has enough prior felony convictions that he is what's known as a persistent felony offender and that bumps the max up to that of a c-felony so the max I believe is 15 years," Jacobs said.

A sentencing hearing is set for Monday, July 31 at the Boone County Courthouse. ABC 17 News has reached out to the defense and assistant prosecutor for comment.

According to court documents, Robinson was in an argument with the victim, Reginald Ball in the parking lot of the restaurant in March 2021.

According to police, Robinson fired off three shots, hitting Ball, and then drove away. Ball was pronounced dead that the scene shortly after officers arrived. After being arrested, Robinson allegedly told police that he shot Ball in self-defense. 

Tanner Stone of the Columbia Police Department was the first person to take the stand in the afternoon after recess. He responded to a call of a shooting at the Waffle House.  

The defense reviewed a photo of his bodycam footage that showed how bright the lights were in the parking lot. 

Shortly after Detective Adam O’Dell of the Columbia Police Department took the stand. O’Dell took photos of the car Ball was riding in before getting shot. 

The defense went over photos and found empty bottles of alcohol, marijuana and a holster in the backseat of the car.

Late Thursday morning, a crime scene investigation specialist from the Missouri State Highway Patrol took the stand. He brought a model of a gun cartridge to explain how a firearm works. He then compared the model to pictures of cartridges found at the scene. 

He also showed examples of tests he did back at the lab from his initial report.

A woman who was eating at the Waffle House with her fiance the night of the shooting also took the stand Thursday morning. She witnessed the shooting as she was leaving the restaurant.  She had difficulty remembering details from two years ago. 

However, she did remember hearing someone from one of the vehicles say “I’m not trying to do this man” before an argument broke out and Ball got shot. 

Her fiance took the stand roughly 15 minutes later. He also said that he heard someone say “I’m not trying to do this” three times before he heard shots ring out and saw a car leaving quickly.

Their testimonies came right after ,Thomas Quintana, a street crime detective's testimony. Quintana was one of the officers who helped locate Robinson after the shooting by using a phone ping. 

During his testimony, Quintana said he helped arrest Robinson outside of his father's home. During that time he also discovered the gun that Robinson used in the shooting. 

Photos show the gun was inside a plastic bag on the floor of Robinson’s car. That same gun was shown in court and matched the photos.

Chad Craig, a detective who interrogated Robinson was the first person to take the stand on Thursday. The prosecution focused on an interview that took place several hours after the shooting. During the interview, Robinson said he was a "good person" and that he didn't want to be looked at as just a criminal. He also talked about how gun laws are not fair.

The prosecution also showed a bag of evidence that contained three bullets from the scene.

The defense pulled up maps of the street and video surveillance from the Waffle House the night of the shooting before turning their attention to that interview.

This comes after the jury heard two police officers and Robinson’s ex-girlfriend, Anne O' Conner, the day before. 

O' Connor has a previous criminal record and admitted that she used to have a cocaine problem. She also said the three people in the car had been drinking heavily and that they had smoked marijuana earlier in the day.

She broke down crying on multiple occasions, which forced the judge to clear the courtroom while the lawyers talked with her. O' Connor was caught contradicting herself multiple times during her testimony. 

Two police officers who investigated the scene that night, Patrick Corcoran and Tony Doyle, took the stand first and went over Waffle House security footage. Corcoran said that there was so much blood that they initially couldn’t locate where the wound was. 

During the opening statements, the prosecution argued that Robinson was seen on camera shooting Ball and driving away. They also argued that he should not have had a gun in the first place because he is a felon. Missouri law prohibits anyone who has been convicted of a felony from owning a gun. 

According to the defense, Robinson met Ball online. The two had a shared interest in motorcycles and text messages show that they agreed to meet at a Waffle House. Robinson parked his car in a well-lit spot and then roughly 30 seconds later Ball’s car pulled up next to him. Inside the car was another man in the backseat and O'Connor, who was driving the car. 

The defense argued that they were waiting across the street for him, which is why they arrived so quickly. Video from the courtroom showed Robinson approaching the other car and then back up slowly toward his car with his hands up.

The defense argued that when Ball then began walking toward Robinson’s car, Robinson shot him in self-defense.