March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Jealousy motive in midcoast slaying > St. George man confesses to police

ROCKLAND — Jealousy led a St. George man to fatally shoot a rival for his estranged wife’s affections, according to court records.

David A. Brown, who died of multiple gunshot wounds Monday morning inside a mobile home in Thomaston, was described Tuesday as a “wonderful” and “nice” man by those who knew him. He was 36.

Malcolm D. Robinson II confessed to the shooting to police, according to an affidavit filed in Rockland District Court. Robinson, 48, of St. George, has been charged with murder. He made his initial court appearance Tuesday. He remains in Knox County Jail pending a bail hearing.

Robinson said that “the reason he shot the man was because even though he had been separated from his wife he was confident he was going to get back together with her. Now she was with this other man,” stated the affidavit prepared by Maine State Police Detective Robin Parker.

The state Medical Examiner’s Office determined Tuesday that the manner of Brown’s death was homicide and the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds. The exact number of wounds was not released.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said Tuesday that detectives found the murder weapon in St. George on Monday night. The affidavit indicates that a Sturm Ruger .357-caliber handgun was found to be missing from the home of Karl Hoffmann, with whom Robinson had lived for a while after he separated from his wife.

According to the court document, Lynette Robinson, the defendant’s estranged wife, had spent the night at David Smith’s home from Sunday into Monday. The affidavit states that Smith slept on a couch and she spent the night in a bedroom with Brown.

Mrs. Robinson told police that her husband knocked on the trailer door at 8 a.m. Monday and told her “he was going to blow her head off” and then left. She left the trailer five minutes later and went to her own home.

At 9:15 a.m., her husband called her at home and told her, “I did it, I killed David. You made me do it,” according to the affidavit.

Smith leaped out a window at his Thomaston Street trailer to escape the gunfire and went to a neighbor’s home to call police.

At the brief court hearing, Rockport lawyer Steven Peterson was appointed by the court to defend Robinson. Assistant District Attorney Eric Walker stood in for Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese who will prosecute the murder case.

The state requested a Harnish hearing, a special hearing for cases such as capital crimes which at one time could call for a death sentence, Walker said, and at which the state can ask that bail be denied. The hearing will be scheduled within the next two weeks.

Robinson fled the area after the shooting. Wiscasset police stopped him in his vehicle about 11 a.m. and arrested him at gunpoint.

A probable cause hearing was set for 1 p.m. Jan. 20 at Rockland District Court.

A motion for probation revocation was also filed Tuesday against Robinson for violating conditions of his probation by allegedly committing murder. Peterson said his client denied the violation.

In October, Robinson was sentenced to a suspended 116-day jail term and two years probation for two counts of assault, terrorizing, criminal threatening and refusing to submit to arrest, Walker said. The assaults were Sept. 16 against Mrs. Robinson and her son Mark Frampton, he said. In the assault involving his wife, Robinson threw a remote control at her, which struck her leg, and then he choked her, Walker said.

Outside the courtroom, Betsy Fairfield of South Thomaston said she was a friend of the victim and also knew the defendant.

Fairfield, who claimed to have known Brown for about 10 years, said they dated at one time.

“We dated, but remained friends” afterward, she said, describing Brown as “Wonderful … He was nice.”

Several years ago, Robinson was a maintenance man at the Knox Street Apartments in Rockland, where Fairfield was living, she said, calling him “Mac.” Fairfield was not sure what drew her to the courthouse, except that she wanted to see Robinson.

“I want to ask him why he did it,” she said.

Fairfield said Brown worked as a bouncer at the Time Out Pub in Rockland. Kathy Thyng, however, co-owner of the pub, said Brown only briefly filled in once, but was not employed there. Thyng said she was acquainted with Brown and that he was a “very nice man.”

“David was well liked by everybody,” Thyng’s husband, Jim Beaulieu, said Tuesday. “You couldn’t ask for a nicer guy.”

Beaulieu said that Brown was a carpenter and boat builder who was a regular at the pub. He confirmed information in the affidavit, which stated Lynette Robinson works at Time Out Pub. She works part time, Beaulieu said.


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

You may also like