Initially the request to combine accused “Shopping Cart Killer” Anthony Eugene Robinson’s two trials into one was denied.
A new request this time by Commonwealth’s Attorney Marsha Garst has now been granted according to the Daily News Record and WTOP
That motion will move the trial to late January and at the same time add 2 days to the docket.
The original request, which according to defense attorney Louis Nagy was made to better serve his client as well as help the court and jury selection because of the similarity in cases.
Robinson is accused of killing 54-year-old Beth Redmon of Harrisonburg and 39-year-old Tonita Smith of Charlottesville.
Both women’s bodies were found in Harrisonburg in an underdeveloped lot.
In September of 2022 a grand jury indicted Robinson on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of concealing dead bodies, and one count of aggravated murder of more than one person.
Robinson was scheduled to be tried on the first-degree murder of Smith this Monday in Harrisonburg.
On September 11 the decision to move the trial to January 27 was made by Judge Bruce D. Albertson and be combined with the Smith charges.
Robinson has also been linked by DNA to two additional murders, one in Fairfax County and the other in Washington DC none of that will be included in the Harrisonburg trial.
It is believed that Robinson’s Harrisonburg offenses were committed while he was living at Harrisonburg’s Howard Johnson Motel while working at Timberville’s Pilgrim’s Pride.
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