Robinson

I. Factual and Procedural Background

A. The Crime1

At around 6 p.m. on June 8, 1987, Robinson drove from Banning, California, to Yuma, Arizona with two friends, The- odore Washington (“Washington”) and Jimmy Lee Mathers (“Mathers”). Earlier that afternoon, Robinson told his son, Andre, that the three men were going to Yuma to see if Susan Hill (“Susan”), Robinson’s common law wife, was there. As Andre looked on, the three men loaded two handguns and a shot gun into Robinson’s car.

At around 11:30 p.m., Sterleen Hill (“Sterleen”), Susan’s stepmother, heard sounds outside the Hills’ house in Yuma. She told her son LeSean to investigate, but he saw no one. At approximately 11:45, someone knocked on the door. When LeSean opened it, a man identified himself as James and told LeSean that he had some money for Ralph Hill (“Ralph”), Susan and LeSean’s father. When LeSean opened the door to accept the money, the man, whom LeSean believed to be a 1 Except as noted, we base our recitation of the facts on the Arizona Supreme Court opinion upholding Robinson’s conviction and sentence on direct appeal. See State v. Robinson, 796 P.2d 853 (Ariz. 1990). 2718 ROBINSON v.…