Judge finds defendant mentally ill - & guilty of 1st-degree murder in '06 slayings

There is no doubt that Carlton Robinson struggled with mental- health issues.

"I didn't know how to get him help, but I knew he needed help," Tanya Harmon, his girlfriend, said in court this week about the man she called "a gentle giant."

Despite concerns from Harmon and Robinson's mother, Robinson, 38, went off the deep end June 1, 2006. He walked into a North Philadelphia cell-phone store where he once worked, placed a bizarre 9-1-1 call, then fatally shot his former boss, Sung Kyom-Kim, 32, and Jung Kim, 36, a store employee.

Calling the killings "a horrendous crime," Common Pleas Judge Shelley Robins New on Thursday convicted Robinson of two counts of first-degree murder, but also ruled that he was mentally ill.

The verdict means that although Robinson is ill he is not insane and therefore responsible for his actions.

The judge also found him guilty of two counts each of aggravated assault and attempted murder related to a customer and store employee who were in the store during the murders.

Robinson will first be sent to a state prison hospital for treatment until he is deemed to be healthy. Then, he will remain in prison for life without parole.

Had Robinson been found not guilty by reason of insanity, he would have been released from a state mental hospital after he was deemed healthy, said his attorney, F. Michael Medway.

Medway argued that Robinson was insane and should be found not guilty. A psychiatrist who testified on Robinson's behalf said that he suffers from a mental condition called delusional disorder.

Assistant District Attorney MK Feeney put her own psychiatrist on the stand to refute that finding. She also played for the judge a jailhouse phone call between Harmon and Robinson. The prosecutor suggested that during the call the couple were concocting an insanity defense.