Judge Mark Munger told Susan June Robinson that she betrayed a friendship and fatefully "led the lion into the lamb."
The Duluth judge then gave Robinson a 10-year prison sentence Monday for being an accomplice in the 2003 unintentional second-degree murder of 5-year-old Marcus Johnson.
Robinson, 19, is the sixth and final defendant to be sentenced for taking part in a planned Sept. 24, 2003, robbery of drugs and money from Clifford Brown at the St. Regis apartments. Brown was the live-in boyfriend of Marcus' mother, Joannie Lund.
Munger suggested that Robinson's role in the crime was more egregious than her five co-defendants because she was a friend of Lund and her two sons.
The judge said Robinson betrayed that friendship by setting the whole "sorry scenario in order." She showed the others where Brown and Lund lived, led them to the apartment door and knocked.
The shooter, Gary LaQuier, testified at his plea hearing that he didn't intend to shoot the boy. He said that when he tried to push his way inside the apartment the gun went off. The bullet grazed a door frame, went through a book bag hanging on the wall and struck Marcus, who was lying on a sleeper sofa.
"I'm glad it's finally over," Lund said by phone Monday from Sioux City, Iowa, where she now lives. "Of course, being a parent, I don't feel 10 years is enough time. I feel that she is the one that set the situation off. She did bring them. They didn't know where we lived, then she even had the guts to come to the funeral."
Robinson tried to read an apology to the court, but started crying and was unable to finish. Her defense attorney, Michael Husby, finished reading the letter and also read two others that Robinson wrote to Lund and Marcus Johnson's father, Gary Johnson.
"I pray for you and your family's forgiveness," Robinson wrote. "I want you all to know how sorry I am for what I've done.... I want you to know that I regret everything that happened and I will always live with that regret every day of my life.... I would give everything to take it all back and see everyone happy again."
Robinson was the first of the co-defendants to provide a truthful statement that helped the Duluth Police Department solve the case. That led to her receiving 30 months off her 150-month guideline sentence. She had no prior criminal record.
Husby had asked the court that Robinson receive probation and be entered in the Teen Challenge program, a 13- to 15-month faith-based Christian drug and alcohol recovery program in Minneapolis.
The defense attorney said Robinson never met her father, her mother was a chronic alcoholic who abused her, and that she had "witnessed terrible things as a youngster."
Husby said Robinson was under the influence of alcohol and marijuana the night of the shooting. She was 17 at the time, but certified to stand trial as an adult.
In August, Robinson agreed to plead guilty to aiding unintentional second-degree murder while committing or attempting to commit aggravated robbery and burglary.
Abigail Fleissner, who was 18 at the time of the murder, did receive probation for driving the gunman to and from the crime scene. As conditions of her probation, Fleissner was sentenced to nine months in the St. Louis County Jail and then to the Teen Challenge program.
Fleissner, now 20, testified Monday about how the Teen Challenge program changed her life. She said she first only wanted to avoid a prison sentence, but the program gave her a purpose for living. She said she learned how to deal with anger and the desire to use drugs. She graduated from the program in April, but elected to stay on in a training program to help others.
Gary Johnson told the court that his son was taken from him because of the actions of irresponsible people.
"They took away something that meant so much to me," Johnson said. "It's very, very hard."
When asked for comment after the hearing, Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin said, "Amelia Earhart said, 'Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.' I think today the court made a courageous decision and hopefully it will be the beginning of peace in the lives of the family of 5-year-old Marcus Johnson. Truly, this is one of the most heartbreaking cases I've ever prosecuted in my 27 years."
Robinson will receive credit for the 656 days she's served in the St. Louis County Jail and the Arrowhead Juvenile Center. She will serve her sentence at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee.
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