Michael Robinson after his 1993 murder conviction was overturned in 2023 after he served more than two-and-a-half decades in prison.
Courtesy of The Legal Aid Society
A Jamaica man was convicted for a second time in the 1993 murder of his pregnant and estranged wife in Bayside.
Michael Robinson, 59, was retried for the fatal stabbing of 29-year-old Gwendolyn Samuels after his original 1994 conviction was overturned by State Appellate Division in 2023, based on newly discovered evidence, after he had served 26 years in prison. Samuels was killed a year after she and Robinson separated. At the time she was two months pregnant with her new boyfriend’s child and was working as a housekeeper. Robinson stabbed her to death in the Bayside home of the elderly woman she was caring for.
“This was a brutal crime that left a pregnant young woman dead and devastated her family,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said after Robinson was convicted on June 10.
According to the charges and trial testimony, on January 11, 1993, Samuels was working as a housekeeper for 88-year-old Alveina Marchon in Bayside. Robinson arrived at the home and then he and Samuels went grocery shopping for Marchon. When the defendant and Samuels returned to the home after grocery shopping, the defendant sat down with Marchon and spoke to her for a few minutes. Samuels went upstairs and was followed by Robinson. Marchon testified at the original trial that she heard Samuels screaming and rushed up the stairs to find Robinson standing over her with a knife. When Marchon attempted to stop the attack, Robinson stabbed her.
Michael Robinson in his Jamaica home prior to his 1993 murder conviction.Courtesy of The Legal Aid Society
At the time of the trial, Marchon was 89 years old. She has since passed away. Three of the testifying detectives from the original trial are also deceased. Their testimony from the first trial was read into the record during the new trial. Robinson’s original conviction was overturned in 2023 after newly discovered DNA evidence found on one of the victim’s fingernails did not match the defendant’s. It was never determined who the DNA belonged to.
“A jury convicted Robinson 32 years ago, but on appeal the verdict was reversed in 2023,” Katz said. “Following the second jury trial, he was found guilty of murder motivated by jealousy.”
Trial opening took place on May 28 and closings on June 9. The jury deliberated for just under a day before returning the guilty verdict. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michelle Johnson, who presided over the trial, set sentencing for July 1. Although Robinson has already served a substantial amount of time in prison because of his conviction in the first trial, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
“It is my hope that this will bring Gwendolyn Samuels’ loved ones a measure of closure and comfort knowing that the defendant has been held to account for her death,” Katz said.