Hampton, Virginia

From the Hampton Roads Daily Press of May 19, 2006

Hearing gives details of Hampton home invasion

Robert Outlaw killed one of the men who broke into his home Feb. 21, but will not face charges.

Robert Outlaw didn't know the two men who burst into his house one evening in February, demanding money and waving guns around.

But a short time later, one of the supposed gunmen was dead and Outlaw and a roommate found themselves searching desperately for a hospital to treat Outlaw because he'd been shot in the chest.

Details of the Feb. 21 home invasion were revealed Thursday during a preliminary hearing for a Portsmouth man and Chesapeake woman accused of participating in the crime. Demarcus Wade, 21, and Ineen Robinson are each charged with one count of robbery, attempted robbery, breaking and entering while armed, conspiracy to commit burglary and three firearms charges.

Outlaw and his roommate, Timothy Page, testified they were the only two people home when Wade and 20-year-old Clifton Jordan of Portsmouth broke into the house on West Virginia Avenue near Mallory Street.

Robinson and a third man, Michael Antonio Williams, 23, of Portsmouth waited outside in a vehicle while their friends attempted to rob Outlaw, according to other evidence presented during the hearing.

"Two gentlemen came in and they told me to hit the floor, so I hit the floor," Page said. "They asked me where the money was but I told them I didn't know."

The men then headed to Outlaw's room and asked him the same question, Page said. A shot followed and the men came back, he said, again demanding to know where money was hidden.

Outlaw testified he used another roommate's gun to shoot at the intruders when they came back down the hallway with Page in tow. Outlaw won't face charges in Jordan's death because police ruled the killing was in self-defense. The two men said they fled the house and drove to the old Sentara hospital site on Victoria Boulevard not realizing the hospital was no longer there. They then stopped at a 7-Eleven on Shell Road and called 911.

Hampton General District Judge A.W. "Pat" Patrick refused Robinson's lawyer's request to dismiss the charges against Robinson because evidence showed she was the only one in the group who knew Outlaw and because she told police that she led the Portsmouth men to his house. In addition, Robinson knew the men were planning to rob Outlaw, Senior Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Karen Rucker told the judge.

Robinson's trial was set for Aug. 16. When Wade retains a lawyer to handle his case in Circuit Court, prosecutors plan to file a motion asking that he be tried on the same day. A preliminary hearing for Antonio Williams is set for June 5.