New trial date set for man accused in 2014 Boise Bench killings over alleged drug theft
Anthony Robins Jr. will once again go to trial in Boise.
The 39-year-old — convicted in 2016 of aiding and abetting a double murder before the Idaho Supreme Court vacated the conviction two years later — will face a jury trial starting in March 2021, according to online court records.
Robins appeared in a Boise courtroom Friday afternoon as the new trial date was set. Court documents show that jurors will be called to court on Feb. 16 ahead of the trial, which as of Friday is set to begin March 8. The trial is scheduled to take place over five weeks.
Robins, originally from Fremont, California, is accused of hiring a hit man to kill two men — Elliot Bailey and Travontae Calloway — in 2014. Bailey and Calloway allegedly stole around 30 pounds of marijuana worth $100,000 from Robins, who was living in Boise at the time.
Authorities believe Robins hired a Pennsylvania man, John Douglas, and flew him to Idaho to kill Bailey and Calloway, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting. The two were gunned down on Calloway’s 27th birthday. Calloway’s girlfriend was also shot, but she survived.
Both Douglas and Robins were arrested and charged in the killings. They were tried together in 2016, and Robins was convicted of aiding and abetting murder, and was sentenced to serve 40 years in prison. Douglas was sentenced to life in prison for murder.
Prior to the trial, prosecutors were told of a letter Douglas wrote to Robins in jail, which prompted police to search Robins’ cell. The letter wasn’t found, but several pages of handwritten notes were taken and turned over to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office — notes that Robins said were meant for his attorney.
The court later ruled that the notes were confidential, but it said that Robins must object during the trial if he believed the prosecution was using anything he’d written in the notes against him.
In 2018, the Idaho Supreme Court vacated Robins’ conviction, ruling that a new trial would need to be conducted. The high court ruled that the judge failed to fully acknowledge the violation of Robins’ rights, and didn’t give Ada County prosecutors a chance to defend themselves and prove that their case did not rely on the notes.
Robins is being held at the Ada County Jail.
