BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio — A jury has found a man accused of setting a woman on fire in 2023 in Butler County guilty of all charges leveled against him.
Robbi Robinson Jr., 25, was charged with aggravated murder, aggravated arson and felonious assault after he set 50-year-old Brenda Scott on fire.
It took the jury two hours to deliberate. While Robinson faces the death penalty for his crimes, his sentencing phase won't begin until Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Watch our recap of the trail below:
Jury selection began last Monday, a process taking two days before 12 people would be seated Wednesday morning. The jurors took a tour of the crime scene later that morning ahead of opening statements.
Assistant Butler County Prosecutor Katherine Pridemore led the prosecution.
"He took a lighter, he flicked that lighter on. He looked at Brenda and set Brenda Scott, her flesh — as vulnerable as she could be, because she was not wearing any clothes at the time — he set her flesh on fire," Pridemore said during opening statements.
In an unusual move, the defense reserved its opening statement, choosing to forgo any statement before the jury.
After three days of testimony and presenting DNA and police body camera video evidence, the state rested its case Friday afternoon. But the defense failed to make a case. That sent the trial into closing statements.
Prosecutors spent close to an hour reiterating their case Monday morning, detailing why each of the 12 jurors should find Robinson guilty on all five of his counts and their specifications.
"The state submits to you that the defendant, at that time, literally bottled up his anger in the form of ignitable liquids, he put on his clothes and that big puffer jacket in 70+ degree weather and that's when he attacked Brenda," Pridemore said. "He set her on fire. He set the house on fire."
David Brewer, who serves as one of Robinson's attorneys, stood before the jury and spoke for just 37 seconds.
"We had no questions for most of the witnesses. That's pretty much going to be the theme here in the closing argument, OK?" Brewer told the jury. "There are facts -- facts and evidence. There are interpretations of those facts and there are arguments. There are plans to give those facts and those interpretations and those arguments at a later date. What we want is this part of this case to be over with and as such we have nothing further at this point."
Watch a summary of what happened at the trial here when the jury heard the first testimony:
Prosecutors said Scott had recently gotten engaged to Robinson's father and was in the process of moving into the home on Arroyo Court in Fairfield Township.
Prosecutors said after his father left for work on the morning of May 11, 2023, Robinson filled water bottles with accelerant — a concoction made of a mix of acetone and lighter fluid — and carried them to an upstairs bedroom Scott was sleeping in. Robinson then ambushed Scott, punching her in the face and knocking some of her teeth out.
Prosecutors said Robinson then flicked a lighter and threw it on Scott, who was naked, setting her on fire. She ran into the adjoining bathroom, opened a window and jumped out.
Moments after she landed on the ground a neighbor, Dennis Williams, heard her screaming and ran over to help. He called 911 and stayed with Scott for six minutes until first responders arrived.
Prosecutors called Williams to the stand on the first day of testimony. He said Scott placed blame on Robinson several times telling him her stepson set her on fire, that it was her fiance's son, that it was Robbi and that he was 24.
Body camera footage released by police shows an officer arriving at the home and finding her:
"I gotta breathe," the woman tells police in body camera footage. "My inhaler's in the house ... I can't breathe, he knocked my teeth out."
After asking who hurt her, the officer runs to the front of the house and immediately takes Robinson into custody. Robinson tells the officer, "I don't know what happened."
Scott was airlifted to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, but she died from her injuries one month later.
You can watch the full day of trial here:
"She had just terrible, terrible burns on — I mean I'm no expert, but at least half her body — I mean terrible burns," Williams said. "She wasn't still on fire at that point, but there was a little bit of flame next to her that was dying."
Robinson's trial had been delayed multiple times since Scott's murder. Robinson’s competency was first questioned in March after a psychologist said he claimed to be “the Supreme Being,” according to court records.
Defense attorneys Hawkins and David Brewer said in the formal motion, “Mr. Robinson was so delusional that Dr. Jenny O’Donnell could not complete her evaluation. Mr. Robinson claimed to be ‘the Supreme Being’ and made other claims that the court had no power over him.”
Then in November, Robbinson was expected to take a plea deal that would have removed the death penalty from the case in exchange for his guilty plea. However, in court that day, he ultimately refused the deal.
