Robinson pleads guilty to criminally negligent homicide

PALMER — A then-16-year-old boy who shot and killed his father in 2013 following an altercation in their home has pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, authorities said.

William Samuel Carson Robinson, now 18, had been scheduled to go on trial Monday morning for first-degree homicide and second-degree homicide by extreme indifference, according to court records.

But those plans changed when Robinson pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, according to lead prosecutor Eric Senta.

Prosecutors have said Robinson opened fire on an unarmed disabled man when he shot and killed his father on Feb. 26, 2013. Defense attorneys say Robinson fired six shots in self-defense at William “Spencer” Robinson Sr. as the man approached to strike his son.

The shooting came after a verbal argument between the elder Robinson and his wife, according to Frontiersman articles published subsequent to the younger Robinson’s arrest. William Samuel Carson Robinson’s mother had planned to leave the house, but the elder Robinson had disabled the family car, according to an article published July 5, 2014.

The younger Robinson told Alaska State Troopers he was trying to hide a revolver from his father, but shot him instead.

Defense attorneys have portrayed Robinson as the victim of domestic abuse, whose statements of intention were unreliable.

First-degree murder and second-degree murder are both unclassified felonies, potentially resulting in sentences of up to 99 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

Criminally negligent homicide is a Class B felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

Robinson has been free on $25,000 bail since April 2013. He's scheduled to be sentenced in November.