Former Jackson police officer Anthony Fox will serve up to five years in state prison for the manslaughter of George Robinson, 62. Earlier this month, a jury found Fox guilty of culpable negligence manslaughter in the 2019 beating death of Robinson. Hinds County Circuit Judge Adrienne Wooten sentenced Fox to 20 years for the killing, but with 15 years suspended. Robinson was recovering from a stroke just weeks before the beating
Robinson’s beating at the hands of the Jackson Police Department occurred in the Washington Addition neighborhood while officers were searching for the killer of Rev. Anthony Longino, pastor of New Bethany Missionary Baptist Church, as he was opening the doors for Sunday morning services. Robinson had no connection to the killing of the pastor.
Officers encountered Robinson on Jan. 13 while sweeping the neighborhood in search of suspects in Longino’s death. Witnesses report the officers pulling Robinson from his car and beating him with flashlights.
Witnesses present at Robinson’s beating also testified that one of the three officers body-slammed Robinson while removing him from his car to detain him. The officers later released the 62-year-old, who returned to his hotel and fell unconscious, dying soon of a subdural hemorrhage.
Dr. Mark LeVaughn, Mississippi’s former chief medical examiner, earlier testified that “this 62-year-old male named George Robinson died as a result of multiple blunt injuries to his head.” Robinson died days after his arrest and beating.
Fox is the only officer of the three present convicted of killing Robinson. Hinds County Judge Faye Peterson threw out charges against Officers Lincoln Lampley and Desmond Barney with prejudice, firmly preventing future criminal proceedings against the two men for Robinson’s death. Kayode Crown and Donna Ladd reported for the Jackson Free Press in 2020 that both Lampley Barney were present at previous police shootings of civilians.
After that trial’s abrupt conclusion, District Attorney Jody Owens told the press he was “surprised,” as his office “thought the evidence was sufficient.” But Owens alluded to Fox’s culpability in the same remarks. “In the trial, a defendant’s name was mentioned constantly. It was not a defendant that was on trial today,” he said.
Fox will serve up to five years in prison and five years of supervised probation after his release. Fox is further ordered to maintain no contact with the family of George Robinson, or any of the witnesses who testified in court.
