RFP Staff
♦ The Jury took less than 30 minutes to convict Maurice Robinson, 37, of the 2012 murder the much beloved Z & H convenience store owner Hecham Abualenian and 3 Salisbury armed robberies. The guilty verdict came as no surprise to many area legal observers who saw the case against Robinson as open and shut.
The jury got the case at just after 3 p.m. Monday and swiftly delivered the verdict on the murder charge and the armed robberies that included Abualenian’s Z & H convenience store on Mooresville Road and 2 armed robberies at Neighborhood Mart on West Horah Street near Livingstone College.
Prosecutors contended that Robinson planned all 3 convenience store robberies and supplied the gun employed in the crimes. Prosecution witnesses Kevin Canzator and Chris Watson, who accompanied Robinson on the robberies and are now in prison after pleading guilty, testified during the trial that Robinson planned robberies. Watson claimed that he took part in the robberies because Robinson threatened to harm his family and because he owed Robinson crack money.
