Phoenixville woman gets mandatory sentence plus consecutive term for 2011 homicide
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
Monique Robinson was sentenced to life in prison followed by 8 years, 10 months to 34 months for her role in a 2011 homicide in Phoenixville.
A series of mistakes – one of them fatal – led to a life sentence followed by nearly nine to 34 years for a 20-year-old Phoenixville woman in Chester County Court on Thursday.
Monique Robinson was 18 when she conspired on Sept. 14, 2011, with Saleem D. Williams, 22, of Sharon Hill, and Stephen A. Reidler, 25, of Linfield, to get money for drugs. After a plan to set up a drug dealer failed when he didn’t answer his phone, the trio sought another victim on Phoenixville’s streets, fatally shooting Selvin Lopez-Mauricio, an industrious, 22-year-old Guatemalan native who had just returned home from his fast-food job, court records said.
Lopez-Mauricio resisted the group’s efforts to grab his backpack, which contained his paycheck but no cash. During the scuffle, Robinson handed Williams an automatic weapon she had purchased and said: “Shoot him,” records said. Williams and Reidler were in custody a week after the slaying, confessed to their involvement, and implicated Robinson, a Phoenixville High student who remained on the lam for more than three months.
Once Robinson surrendered with her attorney, Robert J. Donatoni, she declined to negotiate with prosecutors, insisting on her right to a trial. In April, a jury convicted her of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence; conspiracy to commit robbery; and flight to avoid apprehension. Under separate plea agreements, Reidler is serving a 20- to 40-year prison term while Williams received a 40- to 80-year jail sentence.
Deputy District Attorney Peter Hobart presented a single witness during the sentencing: Carlos Lopez, the victim’s brother, who, through a Spanish translator, described the family’s pain of losing their loved one to a senseless assassination. “He was going to start a new job the following day,” Lopez said of his brother, who had been working at Wendy’s. Lopez said the family appreciated the efforts of everyone involved in the case and was grateful the system had worked.
Hobart urged Chester County Court Judge James P. MacElree II to make the sentences on conspiracy and flight consecutive to the mandatory life term for murder, pointing out that Robinson’s extensive history of disobedience was continuing. Prison officials have written her up three times for infractions, he said. He said the fact that Lopez-Mauricio died during the commission of the other crimes constituted an aggravating factor that justified an increased prison term.
Donatoni countered that the life sentence was more than adequate. He pointed out that Robinson would “die in prison,” a remark that evoked a tearful response from her. Donatoni also noted that her co-defendants received lesser sentences and that she would not have been eligible for the life term if she had been born a mere four months later. Courthouse personnel said Robinson turned down a plea offer that would have afforded her a release date.
Robinson declined to address the court. Before imposing the sentence, MacElree acknowledged that “it’s a sad day” for everyone involved in the case, from the victim’s family to the defendant’s. At Donatoni’s request, the judge released him from the case and ordered a court-appointed attorney to represent Robinson during her appeal as about a dozen family members and supporters of Robinson shook their heads. Robinson’s mother said the family planned to hire another attorney. MacElree said she was welcome to do that; however, with a deadline looming, the judge needed to make sure she has counsel. That attorney can withdraw if the family comes up with a replacement, he said.
