After six hours of deliberation, a Greene County jury sent word to the judge presiding over a rape trial that they were hopelessly deadlocked.
Micah S. Robinson, 43, was initially charged with first-degree rape for an alleged assault that happened Dec. 10, 2023. Jurors were given the option of choosing first- or second-degree rape.
The jury foreman told Judge Todd Myers they unanimously agreed to vote ‘not guilty’ on the first-degree rape charge, but there was one hold-out juror wanting to vote ‘guilty’ on the count of second-degree rape.
The jury began their deliberations around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28. Throughout the day, they sent multiple notes to the judge, asking for guidance if they are unable to come to agreement and telling Myers that no further deliberations would be productive.
Before declaring a mistrial at 3:30 p.m., Myers explained why he would not give the jury a “hammer” instruction, which directs jurors that it is desirable to reach a decision in every case and that they should continue trying to reach a verdict.
“If I give the hammer and send them back and they come back ‘guilty,’ it appears to me that I have coerced a verdict,” Myers said to the attorneys, to Robinson and to the mostly empty gallery. “That is something I am not supposed to do.”
Myers then had the jury return to the courtroom and asked the jury foreperson if they were, indeed, hopelessly deadlocked. She confirmed they were.
Myers declared a mistrial and thanked the seven-women, five-men jury for their service.
A hearing will be held Sept. 5 to discuss getting the case back on the trial docket.
Unusual defense involving grapefruit
The trial began Monday with jury selection, opening arguments and testimony from the woman accusing Robinson of raping her. Testimony continued through Tuesday afternoon, and attorneys made their final arguments on Wednesday morning.
Robinson and his attorneys presented an unusual — and, as Robinson put it, “uncomfortable” — defense during his trial.
In opening arguments Monday afternoon, defense attorney Quentin Michel held up a grapefruit to the jury and said Robinson was suffering from a hernia at the time of the alleged rape and was unable to have sex.
“His scrotum was about the size of a grapefruit,” Michel said. “Typically his scrotum is the size of an avocado. …
“We are talking about the mechanics of sex,” the attorney continued. “The mechanics don’t make sense.”
Robinson was accused of holding the alleged victim down, putting one hand on her face and mouth and his other hand on her neck, using his knees to pry her legs apart and then raping her.
In their closing remarks, Greene County Senior Prosecuting Attorneys Conner Harris and Jacqueline Ledezma-Ruelas pushed back on Robinson’s claim he was incapable of rape because of an enlarged scrotum. The prosecutors pointed out that Robinson never mentioned anything about being in pain or having grapefruit-sized testicl*s until the trial.
Robinson didn’t mention it to the Springfield Police detective who questioned him about the alleged rape, Harris argued.
Harris called the responding officer to the stand as a rebuttal witness Tuesday, asking the officer if he saw a “grapefruit-sized bulge” in Robinson’s pants. The officer did not.
The alleged hernia didn’t come up at the preliminary hearing in January.
“What evidence is there to support that other than his words?” Ledezma-Ruelas said of Robinson’s hernia claim. “There’s absolutely nothing to corroborate that. This is the first time we’ve heard of that — from his mouth and that is it.”
Robinson was arrested by Springfield police on Dec. 21, 2023 and has been in the Greene County jail ever since. But he was allowed to wear a suit and tie during his three-day jury trial.
Accuser first to take the stand
Robinson’s accuser — a woman who was sometimes called by her first name during the trial but identified in this story by her initials, S.G. — testified on Monday afternoon, Aug. 26.
S.G. testified that her vehicle had broken down and Robinson, who was a friend of hers, offered to repair it. Robinson towed the vehicle to a residence in west Springfield where his camper was parked in the backyard on Dec. 9, 2023.
S.G. described her and Robinson’s relationship prior to that as “friendly, maybe went to flirty” and that they often communicated via texting.
S.G. admitted to having smoked marijuana earlier on Dec. 9, 2023 and that she had consumed methamphetamine the day prior.
S.G. testified that there were several people and children at the residence where Robinson had towed her vehicle but that she didn’t know them. S.G. said some of them were using methamphetamine and smoking marijuana, and she felt very uncomfortable.
Asked if she used meth on Dec. 9, 2023 at that residence, S.G. said no.
“Not that day. I was a little nervous,” she said. “The way the people were acting made me nervous.”
Prosecutors said in their opening statements that S.G. had been living in her car and also depended on the vehicle for her work as a delivery driver. On the stand, S.G. said she “had a place” but needed the vehicle to earn a living.
S.G. testified she returned to her vehicle around sundown on Dec. 9, 2023 because her cat was in the vehicle. There, she fell asleep.
Around midnight, Robinson knocked on the car window and told her to come with him. Robinson and Mary Dobbs, the person who lived at the home where the camper was parked, would later testify Dobbs told Robinson to go get S.G. and bring her to the camper so she wouldn’t freeze.
S.G. described having to navigate through a “maze” of debris and outbuildings in the yard and being afraid of the numerous dogs barking at them.
Initially described as ‘like a torture chamber,’ incident happened in camper
Robinson led her to his pop-up camper which was unrecognizable as a camper because it was completely covered with tarps and blankets. The interior walls were also covered with thick blankets, some weighted blankets.
S.G. initially told police she thought the “shed” was soundproof and was like a “torture chamber” with straps hanging from the beds. This description matched the photos shared on a large screen during the trial.
However, Robinson later testified that he used the tarps and blankets to keep the wind out and the heat in. The strap hanging by his bed, according to Robinson, was a key chain.
S.G. testified that once inside the camper, Robinson pushed her onto the bed and assaulted her.
“Before I knew it, he had my legs penned with his knees,” she said. “He said he was going to get me pregnant.”
She testified she didn’t scream for help because he was choking her.
She said she doesn’t remember how he got her pants off, but did remember being raped. She testified he had one hand on her mouth and face and the other applying pressure on her neck. She said eventually he threw her on the floor and told her to “get the f*ck out.”
After Robinson fell asleep, S.G. said she couldn’t find the door because the walls were covered with blankets. She said she didn’t yell for help because she didn’t want to wake up Robinson.
Instead, she texted 911 and waited for officers to arrive.
S.G. said she began shooting cell phone video of her surroundings and of a sleeping Robinson in case something happened to her and someone found her phone.
When those videos were played during the trial, S.G. was still on the stand. She looked away and down at the floor. The prosecutor asked S.G. about her reaction to the videos.
“That was so terrifying to me. That was a scary moment,” she said. “I couldn’t get out. (The camper) was sealed … I couldn’t find the entry.”
S.G. described being taken to the hospital and undergoing the sexual assault forensic exam. She said she later went back to the residence to retrieve her cat.
“Everything was robbed out of my car,” she testified. “And my cat was dead in the seat.”
Robinson would later testify the cat is still alive, as far as he knows.
Defendant takes the stand
Robinson took the stand on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 27. He testified he was not comfortable talking about his hernia “in front of a bunch of people” he doesn’t know. He testified that he had surgery to fix the hernia about six to eight weeks after the alleged assault.
Robinson said he was in so much pain in December of 2023 he would often be “laid down on the floor crying, sweating bullets.”
Robinson said he knocked on S.G.’s car window that night because Dobbs, the homeowner, told him to and that he didn’t really want to.
He testified that he hung the blankets on the inside walls to better insulate the camper and that he had a weighted blanket covering the door because cold air seeped in through the door.
Nancy Fisher, one of Robinson’s defense attorneys, asked Robinson if he raped S.G.
“No, ma’am,” Robinson responded and then began crying.
Harris, the prosecutor, pressed Robinson about his hernia and enlarged scrotum story.
“You didn’t mention it to Detective (Ethan) Ramsey?” Harris asked.
“I didn’t see a need to,” Robinson said.
Harris pointed out that Robinson is now saying he was “unable to rape” S.G. because of his enlarged scrotum but didn’t think it was relevant when officers were questioning him about the alleged rape.
Harris reminded Robinson that Robinson told Ramsey back in December of 2023 that Robinson had sex just a few days before the police interview.
Robinson said he didn’t remember saying that to the detective.
Harris would later call Ramsey back to the stand as a rebuttal witness and played the portion of that interview.
In it, Ramsey asked Robinson when was the last time he had sex.
“Couple days ago,” Robinson responded to the detective’s question.
DNA doesn’t exclude Robinson — or others
DNA evidence presented during the trial came from Robinson and from the alleged victim’s sexual assault forensic exam on Dec. 10, 2023.
Hope Miley, a DNA screening criminalist with the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab, testified Robinson could not be eliminated as a source for the stains that were “consistent with seminal fluid” taken from S.G. But Miley could not say Robinson was the only male who could not be eliminated.
Garrett Schmitz, also a DNA criminalist with the patrol’s crime lab, was questioned about how long seminal fluid can survive inside a vagin*. According to Schmitz, seminal fluid typically survives zero to 72 hours, but said some research suggests it can be viable several days longer.
Emily Smith, the forensic nurse who performed the sexual assault forensic exam on S.G., also testified. During her testimony, prosecutors shared photos of injuries to S.G. body, including her face and neck, on a large screen. Smith also described “abrasions” to S.G.’s genitalia.
Prosecutor: S.G. deserves justice
In closing remarks Aug. 28, Harris explained to the jury what they would have to find in order to convict Robinson of first-degree rape — that on or about Dec. 10, 2023 Robinson had sexual intercourse with S.G. and that he did so by use of “forcible compulsion.”
Harris argued Robinson “clearly used force” by putting one hand on S.G.’s face and mouth, the other hand on S.G.’s neck and then using his knees to force her legs apart.
When S.G. told Robinson that he was hurting her and to stop, Robinson didn’t stop, Harris said.
“That is force,” Harris said.
“Let’s talk about (S.G.). Just the fact that she is here, that in and of itself, is huge,” Harris said, and then spoke about how “humiliating” it was to have that “invasive exam” at the hospital, have those photos taken and then passed around to investigators and within the courtroom to strangers, and having to “relive that trauma” again in depositions, the preliminary hearing and then the trial.
“Why in the world would she want to go through with this?” Harris asked. “She followed through because it’s important her rapist is held accountable. …
“(S.G.) deserves justice,” Harris said. “You’ve heard the evidence. You heard what the defendant did to (S.G.)”
In her closing remarks, Fisher brought up inconsistencies in S.G.’s story — discrepancies about when she met Robinson and her memory of what the weather was like on Dec. 10, 2023.
Fisher reminded the jury about S.G. testing positive for marijuana, methamphetamine and amphetamines following the alleged assault.
The attorney also spoke about how the DNA results didn’t link Robinson to the fluids taken from the alleged victim with 100% certainty.
“It’s Micah’s life. It’s why we are here,” Fisher said. “We are asking you to look at the whole picture.”
