The Springfield man accused of raping a woman inside what she described as a “torture-chamber”-like shed faced his alleged victim in court Wednesday afternoon at a preliminary hearing.
Micah S. Robinson, 42, was arrested by Springfield police on Dec. 21, 2023. He is charged with first-degree rape following a series of events that happened Dec. 10, 2023.
After hearing from the alleged victim and one of the investigators, Greene County Associate Circuit Judge Margaret Palmietto found enough probable cause to believe a crime was committed and set up Robinson's case for arraignment in a higher circuit court on Feb. 2. A bond reduction hearing, which would impact Robinson's ability to get out of jail before his trial, will also be held at that time.
The alleged victim testified her vehicle had broken down and Robinson was going to repair it. She said he towed the vehicle to a house in west Springfield that had multiple campers and sheds in the backyard.
She testified that Robinson drug her from the vehicle into one of the sheds, raped her and strangled her to the point she briefly lost conscious.
She testified that Robinson “yanked my pants down with one hand” and had one of his hands on her mouth and throat.
“He said he was going to get me pregnant as he was ramming me,” she testified. “I said, ‘Ow, you are hurting me.’”
Jeffery Sowash, Robinson’s public defender, asked the woman if she had used drugs on Dec. 10, 2023. The woman said she smoked marijuana.
Robinson laughed out loud from his seat in the courtroom.
Sowash questioned the woman about her earlier statement to police about passing out after the sexual encounter ended.
“I’m sorry — I was choked out,” the woman said, crying.
Alleged victim to judge: ‘He is staring me down’
During an interview with police in December, Robinson was confronted with the woman’s allegation that he raped her.
“He became enraged over this and stated, ‘That’s a f**kin’ lie, man! I’m gonna beat that b**ch to death,’” the officer wrote in his probable cause report.
According to the officer’s report, Robinson went on to make further threats to the alleged victim, including, “you’d best tell her, when I see her again, I’m gonna have a bunch of people after her too! You can guarantee that. I’m gonna get that b**ch beat to death!”
In court Jan. 17, Robinson appeared agitated, shaking his head almost the entire time the woman was on the witness stand.
A woman who had been seated in the middle of the front row moved a few feet over when the alleged victim took the witness stand to a spot where the woman in the gallery had better eye contact with the alleged victim. This woman also shook her head and stared at the alleged victim throughout the testimony. At least twice during the hearing, Robinson turned around and whispered back and forth with the woman in the front row of the gallery.
At one point, the alleged victim cried out to Robinson as he shook his head and stared at her.
“You are not going to look at me like that or bully me,” she said. “You and I know what happened.”
From the witness stand, the woman turned to the judge and said Robinson was staring her down. Palmietto attempted to calm the woman.
“You don’t have to look at him if you don’t want to,” Palmetto said. “Just testify as truthfully as you can.”
From the police report
According to the arresting officer’s probable cause statement, police responded to the house in west Springfield after 911 operators received a text message from the alleged victim. She wrote that she could not speak freely and was in a “maze of trailers and campers with a male who raped her.”
Officers went to the residence on South Glenn Avenue and checked the backyard, looking for the person who texted 911. They heard a woman’s voice coming from inside a shed saying she could not get out.
The woman came out of the shed after officers opened the door and appeared to be in shock and reporting pain in her genitalia, according to the charging documents. The woman told officers she had come to the house because Robinson was going to fix her vehicle, and that Robinson lived in a shed or camper in the backyard.
The woman told officers Robinson dragged her from her vehicle to the shed, where he punched and strangled her, the officer wrote in his report. The woman said Robinson stated, “Ima get you pregnant” before raping her.
Some time later, Robinson fell asleep and the woman searched for a way to get out of the shed. Unable to find a way out, she then sent the text to 911.
She told officers that the inside walls of the shed appeared to be padded and soundproof and was like a “torture chamber” with “straps hanging from the beds,” the officer wrote.
After officers let the woman out of the shed, Robinson stepped out of the shed.
Victim's car still missing
According to the arresting officer’s report, Robinson said he knew the alleged victim for about six months and they were “friends with benefits.” He declined to allow police officers into the shed.
The woman went to a Springfield hospital for a sexual assault examination. According to charging documents, her medical records showed she had multiple injuries to her face, torso, neck and external genitalia. Her sexual assault kit was sent to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory for processing.
The woman later told police that after she was released from the hospital, she discreetly returned to the house because her car was broken down there and she wanted to get her cat out of the car. She told the officer that she found her belongings had been stolen and “someone killed her cat by twisting its head.”
Police later learned the homeowner had possibly towed the woman’s car away to an unknown location.
Sowash, Robinson’s attorney, asked the alleged victim at Wednesday’s hearing if she ever got her car fixed.
“I don’t know where my car is,” she said.
According to the officer’s report, police obtained search warrants for the residence and sheds as well as for Robinson’s DNA. Evidence police collected include bedding, a rope strap hanging by the bed, a large knife and some DVR storage equipment for the surveillance cameras on the property.
Det. Ethan Ramsey testified that investigators with the Springfield Police Department have not been able to view the videos.
Ramsey described the shed as being covered with tarps and having “lots of blankets” hanging from the walls.
Robinson is in Greene County Jail.
