A former Chicago man could die in prison after he was sentenced to 40 years Thursday for sexually assaulting a preteen girl.
A jury convicted James K. Robinson Sr., 52, on three counts of child molesting on March 27. His lawyer Roseann Ivanovich indicated he will appeal.
Deputy Prosecutor Tara Villarreal read two letters – one from the victim and one from her mother.
Robinson “took (the child’s) innocence,” the victim’s mother wrote. “This has destroyed our life.”
“I will keep fighting to get my daughter back,” she said. “She’s just a child.”
“I am scared I will be dealing with this forever,” the victim wrote in her own letter.
The girl has struggled heavily since it happened, lawyers said. Both the mother and victim asked for life in prison.
Ivanovich told Judge Salvador Vasquez that Robinson said he was innocent from the start. She asked for 20 years, saying there were “possible issues on appeal.”
Villarreal said Robinson had eight felony convictions, including a 1995 murder conviction. Court records show he was convicted of criminal sexual abuse in 1989.
“He would probably have more” felonies, if he hadn’t spent time in prison, she said.
Robinson was “victim-blaming” at the trial when he testified. He claimed to the mother he was “just playing”.
“If I touched her, I’m sorry,” Villarreal said Robinson told the mother.
He was a “manipulator” and told the mom he would pay for her drinks that night with a relative to get her out of the house, Villarreal said. She asked for 50 years.
Robinson declined to speak in court.
Vasquez alluded that the sentence would be life.
“This is it for you,” he said. It was something he didn’t “take lightly.”
“Something happened” to the girl, he said. The child was “suffering” and “no one would make that up.”
Court records allege the assault happened on Nov. 9, 2022, when the victim’s mom was out of the home for three hours from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
The victim told Hammond Police and an Indiana Department of Child Services caseworker that she was watching Cocomelon when Robinson molested, then raped her on a sofa.
“Help me,” she screamed, running up the stairs.
He followed her upstairs, groped her, told her goodnight, then left her room.
Robinson was sentenced only on Level 1 child molesting, the most serious charge. He has no credit time and is considered a “credit restricted” felon, which cuts down on his jail credit time for good behavior. He was ordered taken back to the Danville Correctional Center in Illinois where he is serving a 7-year sentence for having a gun as a convicted felon.
mcolias@post-trib.com