The dates set aside for the trial of a man accused in a young girl’s death and concealing that death instead will be used for his sentencing.
Brandon Robinson entered guilty pleas Monday in Liberty County Superior Court in connection with the 2024 death of Aniyah Perry. Perry’s mother Shelly Perry pled guilty earlier this year to 11 charges in the death of her daughter. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Robinson entered guilty pleas on six charges. His guilty plea on the top charge, malice murder, led to it being reduced to murder in the second degree.
Robinson also pled guilty to cruelty to children in the first degree, cruelty to children in the second degree, false statements, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of another.
Three other charges, including two for felony murder, were dropped.
Perry and her then boyfriend Robinson were charged in the death of Aniyah, age 6. Their cases later were severed and adjudicated separately.
Hinesville police officers responded to a Saunders Avenue address on May 1, 2023, on a call for an unresponsive child. According to the incident report, an officer met with Perry at the apartment’s front door and she took him to a bedroom, where the officer found Aniyah. The child was motionless, and her face had turned blue and she did not appear to be breathing.
According to the report, Perry told the officer the child took a nap around 5 p.m., and Perry said she had checked on her daughter every 30 to 45 minutes. Shortly after 8:30 p.m., she went to feed the child and attempted to wake her up and was unable to do so. Perry then called 911.
When detectives arrived, they had the child’s body taken to the GBI crime lab in Atlanta, where an autopsy was conducted.
Under state law, murder in the second degree can be applied when, in commission of the crime of cruelty to children in the second degree, a death is caused, regardless of the level of malice. It carries a sentence of at least 10 years in prison and no more than 30 years in prison.
Robinson’s case was set to go to a jury trial September 28, but he will be sentenced on that date instead.
