People v. Robinson

── People v. Robinson ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: May 22, 2026 Category: General 2026 IL App (1st) 240200-U FIRST DISTRICT, SIXTH DIVISION May 22, 2026 No. 1-24-0200 NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County ) v. ) No. 98 CR 0387301 ) RICKY ROBINSON, ) Honorable ) Carol M. Howard, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding. _____________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE GAMRATH delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice C.A. Walker and Justice Pucinski concurred in the judgment. ORDER ¶1 Held: We affirm the denial of defendant’s postconviction petition after a third-stage evidentiary hearing because the circuit court’s credibility findings are supported by the record and defendant did not meet the cause and prejudice requirement for his proportionate penalties claim. ¶2 On December 28, 1997, defendant Ricky Robinson shot and killed Nicole Giles pursuant to a plan formulated with two other men and discarded her body in a garbage can. Worried about leaving evidence behind, Robinson returned the next day and set Giles’s body on fire. Robinson surrendered to police and confessed soon after. Following a bench trial, Robinson was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, aggravated vehicular hijacking, and concealment of a homicidal death, and sentenced to natural life in prison. Following multiple appeals, this matter is  No. 1-24-0200 before us after the circuit court’s denial of Robinson’s successive postconviction petition asserting actual innocence and a proportionate penalties claim. We affirm the judgment. ¶3 I. BACKGROUND ¶4 A. Trial ¶5 The evidence at trial is detailed in People v. Robinson, 2020 IL 123849, ¶¶ 5-34. We repeat it only to the extent necessary to understand this appeal. ¶6 At about 3:30 p.m. on December 28, 1997, Elise Reed made plans with Giles and Robinson for Giles to drive to Robinson’s house before picking her up. However, Giles never appeared. Around 5:00 p.m., Anjanette Vance and Lavelle Rogers were in Rogers’s car at 88th and Kingston when they saw a dark car facing a nearby viaduct, with two people standing over someone seated on the ground against the driver’s side. A third person exited the passenger side and shot the person seated on the ground in the head. The three people put a plastic bag over the victim’s head and pulled the body into the back seat of