Gun evidence adds new wrinkle to Superior homicide case By: Olsen, Tom, Duluth News-Tribune

(MN), Jun 18, 2015

Tom Olsen
June 18--A Superior murder trial is expected to get underway next week, even as new evidence
continues to emerge from an analysis of the gun that was allegedly used in the fatal shooting.
Kane Michael Robinson, 20, is scheduled to go before a jury Tuesday in Douglas County Circuit Court.
He's charged as a party to the Sept. 30 murder of Garth Velin in Superior's Allouez neighborhood.
The trial date was in doubt after law enforcement officers last week recovered a gun that is believed to
have been used in the attack -- a piece of evidence that could be crucial to the prosecution.
The weapon is currently undergoing forensic and ballistic testing in state crime labs -- and the results
of some of the tests likely won't be available until the middle of next week, District Attorney Dan Blank
said at a hearing Wednesday.
"The crime lab has been doing a good job prioritizing and moving as fast as they can," Blank said. "We
should have our answers in short order."
Blank said officers located the gun last Tuesday, hours after the shooter, 18-year-old Chance William
Andrews, pleaded guilty to the crime. The terms of the plea agreement required Andrews to produce
the weapon, Blank said.
The gun was rushed to the Wisconsin Department of Justice crime lab in Madison, where forensic
researchers were testing it for possible DNA or fingerprint evidence. Preliminary reports, which are
expected to be finalized today, did not provide any new evidence, Blank said.
The gun is expected to arrive by Friday at the Milwaukee crime lab, where it will be examined, fired
and compared with the bullets and shell casings recovered from the crime scene, in order to verify
that it was the same weapon used in Velin's shooting.
The results of those tests are not expected until next Tuesday or Wednesday, after Robinson's trial will
have started, Blank said.
Blank filed a motion last week seeking to postpone the trial, but it was opposed by defense attorney
Thomas Starr. Both attorneys on Wednesday expressed a willingness to work with the late-developing
information during the trial, which had already been postponed from April.
Judge George Glonek said the case would tentatively go on as scheduled, with jury selection to begin
Tuesday morning at the Douglas County Courthouse.
Robinson would be the first of five defendants charged in the case to go before a jury. Andrews was
expected to go to trial last week, but attorneys worked out a last-minute agreement that saw him
plead guilty to a felony murder charge.
Blank said Andrews' plea has not led to successful negotiations with any other suspects, saying the
four co-defendants are maintaining their "criminal code of silence" that has made the case so difficult
to prosecute.
Andrews and co-defendants Teah John Phillips, Dallas Eugene Robinson and Kyham Lavon Dunn are all
subpoenaed to testify at Kane Robinson's trial.
They could be ordered to testify under immunity or be found in contempt of court. However, Andrews,
Dallas Robinson and Dunn remain in custody, making a contempt charge essentially moot, Blank said.

The situation is different for Phillips, 17, who has been out on bail since October and is living with her
family in Blanchardville, Wis.
"She probably would not like to walk herself into the jail at this stage and probably would not like to
give herself any more bad standing with the court system," Blank said, noting that she would be the
most likely co-defendant to take the stand.
Phillips offered statements to police that were crucial to the investigation, according to the criminal
complaints in the case. Phillips reported that she and Kane Robinson stayed in a car several blocks
from Velin's home while the other suspects went to rob the man, according to the documents.
Phillips allegedly told investigators that the three returned a short time later and told her that it "went
bad," with Andrews accidentally shooting Velin, 20, during a skirmish that ensued during the
attempted robbery.
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Source: Duluth News-Tribune (MN), Jun 18, 2015
Item: 2W64014982090