JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The state called its final witness on Tuesday as the lead investigator in the 2020 shooting death of Charles “Lil Buck” McCormick Jr. detailed how he identified Hakeem “Ksoo” Robinson, Abdul Robinson Jr., Leroy Whitaker and Dominique “Butta” Barner as the suspects in the case.
Rap lyrics took center stage during day 5 of the murder trial as the defense pushed back, arguing the evidence is thin and accusing prosecutors of confusing Jacksonville drill rap with real-life violence.
Jacksonville rapper Hakeem Robinson, 26, and co-defendant Leroy Whitaker, 24, his cousin, are standing trial for murder and gun charges in the shooting death of 23-year-old McCormick.
Robinson Jr. is also charged with McCormick’s murder and will be tried separately.
Barner, 31, was offered a plea deal after admitting to driving the car on the day McCormick was killed and testified Friday against Hakeem Robinson and Whitaker.
The case has drawn national attention — and stirred deep tensions in the city’s rap and gang communities. According to prosecutors, the motive for McCormick’s murder involved a “diss” track McCormick had created about Robinson Sr.’s stepson, Willie Addison, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2019.
On Tuesday, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Christopher Smith summarized his investigation into McCormick’s death, explaining how he used surveillance video, dash cam video, witness accounts, and evidence -- including shell casings, weapons, a stolen car, cellphone records and social media accounts -- to identify McCormick’s killers.
He acknowledged that the murder weapon was never found, but said a woman who was a victim of a home invasion that day identified Barner as one of her attackers.
He also testified that Barner’s DNA and Whitaker’s DNA were found in connection with that home invasion, which took place after the pair ran from the scene of a car crash, following a police pursuit from the shooting scene.
Smith also said the rap song “Ksoo Homicide” and an Instagram post with McCormick’s photo and the words “bye bye” were both considered key pieces of evidence in his investigation.
However, the defense said this case isn’t about gang retaliation — it’s about prosecutors misinterpreting music and turning performers into criminals.
“Posting ‘Bye Bye Bye,’ that could just be a reflection of him disliking the guy,” Christopher Decoste, Robinson’s attorney, said.
Decoste also questioned why McCormick could rap about Addison’s death without being treated as a suspect, but Robinson’s lyrics are used against him.
Decoste: "Charles McCormick, was he rapping about something he was never involved in?"
Smith: “I can’t say he had any involvement.”
Decoste: “You can’t say, so it’s OK for Charles McCormick, but it’s not OK for my client.”
Whitaker’s attorney, Julie Schlax, also worked to poke holes in Smith’s testimony about the investigation by pointing out that neither Whitaker nor Hakeem Robinson was directly involved in the shooting that left Addison dead, while Abdul Robinson Jr. was. He was among several other people, including his father, Abdul Robinson Sr., who was injured in the shooting that killed Addison.
During court on Tuesday, Whitaker said he would not be testifying, and Schlax said there would not be any witnesses testifying in his defense.
But Robinson’s defense did call witnesses to take the stand on Tuesday, starting with a JSO officer who spoke on Robinson’s size. Robinson’s size has been a key argument for the defense because witnesses described the shooter as 5 feet 8 inches and slender, but Robinson stands over 6 feet.
More witnesses are expected to testify on Wednesday in defense of Robinson.
Father testifies
Hakeem’s father, Abdul Robinson Sr., also known as “Blue,” took the stand Monday afternoon to testify against his 26-year-old son on behalf of the state.
In an emotional moment, Robinson Sr. identified his son as the person captured in a dash cam video that recorded the deadly shooting.
Robinson Sr. testified that both of his sons were members of the group ATK and were enemies with a rival group, 6Block, of which McCormick was a member.
When the prosecutor asked Robinson Sr. who most wanted to go after McCormick because of the diss song, the 54-year-old said his sons, Hakeem Robinson and Abdul Robinson Jr.
“They didn’t like it,” he said about the song.
In a dramatic moment on the stand, Robinson Sr. was asked if he recognized the person captured in a video recording showing the shooting of McCormick on Jan. 15, 2020. (Watch the video below)
Robinson Sr. took a long pause, appeared to get emotional, and said, “My son.”
“What’s your son’s name?” the prosecutor asked.
“Hakeem,” he responded.
Shannon Schott, a Jacksonville attorney not associated with the case, says while it might seem rare for a parent to testify against their own child, based on the law, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
“In Florida, we don’t have any parent/child confidentiality,” Schott said. “There’s spousal, there’s clergy, there’s attorney, there’s doctor, but there’s no parent/child.”
Robinson Sr., who was arrested Sept. 10, 2020, and accused of helping Whitaker and another man escape after the shooting, was asked why he chose to testify against his son and another family member.
“I got some health issues,” he said. “I got two 6-year-olds and an 8-year-old daughter.”
Robinson Sr. said he wants to take his daughter to the daddy-daughter dance, but he keeps “letting her down.”
“I just found out June 25 that my kidneys is failing rapidly,” he said.
He acknowledged that testifying in the case against his son and his nephew will make his life harder both in and out of jail.
He said cooperating in the case is the “hardest decision I’ve had to make in my life.”
A defense attorney asked Robinson Sr. to clarify what he is receiving in exchange for his testimony as part of a plea deal. He said he will now face a maximum of 20 years in prison instead of a potential maximum of 60 years.
The attorney for Hakeem Robinson painted Robinson Sr. as someone who was taking a deal to save himself.
While it doesn’t necessarily count as making a deal with the state, Schott says testifying in cases like this can help in future court hearings.
“If someone testifies willingly against another individual, when that person who testified is sentenced, it can be favorable in a future sentencing hearing when you cooperate,” Schott explained.
Whitaker’s father was in court last week and said he wants people to be held accountable, but he wants to see evidence.
“We are just going to wait for the outcome and see how it’s going to be. I’m going to keep my head up and my chest out,” he said.
Getaway driver testifies
The star witness for the prosecution, Dominique “Butta” Barner, took the stand Friday afternoon.
Again, Barner was offered a plea deal after admitting to driving the car on the day McCormick was killed. Barner also testified that Hakeem Robinson wanted to kill McCormick over the diss song, which was played for the jury in court on Friday.
Barner said he found McCormick’s address on the Duval County Clerk of Courts website and later drove by his apartment along with Abdul Robinson Jr., Hakeem Robinson, and Whitaker.
Prosecutors asked why they wanted to know where McCormick lived.
“Basically, so we can, you know, handle up after that,” Barner said. “Get everything in motion, like set something up.”
“To accomplish what?” the prosecutor asked.
“Kill McCormick,” Barner responded.
Barner then testified that on the day McCormick was killed, he, Hakeem Robinson and Whitaker waited for hours outside McCormick’s apartment and then followed him to a shopping plaza in a stolen Nissan Altima.
He testified in detail about what he said happened next.
Barner said he parked near McCormick’s car and came up with a plan for Hakeem Robinson to shoot McCormick when he got back into his car to leave, so they could escape quickly. But Hakeem Robinson didn’t wait, Barner said.
Right when McCormick came out of the staffing agency, Hakeem Robinson jumped out of the car and started shooting at McCormick as he tried to run away, Barner testified.
“What did Hakeem Robinson do?” the prosecutor asked.
“Chased him,” Barner said.
“And then did what?” the prosecutor asked.
“Killed him,” Barner said.
Barner said he didn’t actually see Hakeem Robinson kill McCormick because they ran around the side of the building.
Barner testified that McCormick was killed exactly one year after Addison’s murder. Barner said Abdul Robinson Jr. was also injured in the shooting that killed Addison.
Barner said after the shooting, he sped off with Hakeem Robinson and Whitaker, but a police officer quickly spotted them, and a chase ensued.
Barner said he eventually crashed in the area of Townsend Boulevard, and all three jumped out of the car, leaving guns behind, as evidenced in crime scene photographs.
Hakeem Robinson went one way, and Barner and Whitaker went another way, jumping fences and eventually ending up in a woman’s house, he said. After briefly holding the woman hostage, Barner testified that the two were picked up by Abdul Robinson Sr., also known as “Blue,” and on the way to his house, they told him what happened.
Barner was arrested later that day and accused of the home invasion.
On cross-examination, defense attorneys questioned Barner’s credibility and keyed in on the fact that Barner lied to police when he was first brought in for questioning and didn’t tell them about the shooting and denied taking anything from the home when he was trying to escape.
Defense attorneys also had Barner testify that he took a plea deal in two murder cases and testified to avoid life sentences, and now could be sentenced to 20 years.
Whitaker’s defense attorney, Julia Schlax, said Barner is a well-known paid assassin who is known to testify and cut deals with the state.
‘I didn’t know anything’
A woman who dated a cousin of Hakeem Robinson and Abdul Robinson Jr. testified on Friday that she drove to pick up Hakeem Robinson at an apartment complex in Arlington the day McCormick was murdered.
She told the state she was woken up from her sleep by her boyfriend and found Adul Robinson Jr. also in her Arlington home, which is about a mile away from the shopping plaza where McCormick was murdered.
She then said she was asked to pick up Hakeem Robinson from the apartment complex on Arlington Expressway, which she says she did, then drove back to her home without speaking with Hakeem Robinson, before going back to bed.
She said she stopped dating her boyfriend shortly after this happened.
The woman was then cross-examined by Whitaker’s attorney, who emphasized the witness never spent any time with Whitaker, although she knew who he was.
During cross-examination with Hakeem Robinson’s attorney, the attorney pointed out that the woman never went to the police after the murder, and it was not until April of 2022 that the witness claimed she knew something about the case, after receiving a subpoena from the State Attorney’s Office.
The attorney also pressed the woman on what she knew about the events that unfolded on the day of the murder.
Attorney: “When did you know that there was a murder? You had to have known when you saw the news later that day. Within 24 hours, you knew that the murder happened, and it involved your boyfriend, right?
Woman: “I didn’t know for sure. I just saw the death of Charles McCormick on the news.”
Attorney: “At the strip mall right around from your house, right, the one where you claim you heard gunshots from your house, right?”
Woman: “I never said I heard any gunshots.”
Attorney: “Because you were asleep all morning, right, and can’t testify to anything that happened at your house before you woke up?”
Woman: “Correct.”
Attorney: “But you picked up the shooter and you helped him get away, right?”
Woman: “I picked up Hakeem Robinson, that’s who I picked up.”
Attorney: “And they’re claiming he is the shooter, right?”
Woman: “Yes.”
Attorney: “You picked him up and helped him get away and evade capture?”
Woman: “I guess, if that’s what you want to say. I was just picking somebody up.”
Attorney: “Because if you claim you didn’t know anything, then you can’t get charged with accessory after the fact, right?”
Woman: “I didn’t know anything.”
Witnesses describe day of shooting
A woman who worked at the staffing agency at the Dames Pointe Plaza on Merrill Road, where McCormick Jr. was shot, testified last week, describing the moments leading up to the shooting. McCormick had just left the business after receiving his job assignment and walked to his car, she said.
“As he was leaving, there was an individual approaching. As he proceeded to walk off of the sidewalk, he recognized someone coming towards him. He looked back and turned and started to take off running,” the witness said.
Prosecutors then played the frantic 911 call made by that witness, who described a shooter wearing a black mask and skull cap running across the parking lot. She also said McCormick was lying on the ground and not moving.
Despite the moment of chaos, the caller said she caught a glimpse of the shooter.
“He has a mask on, he has a skull cap, he’s running across the parking lot,” she said.
An off-duty JSO officer, another state witness, testified that minutes later, he saw a silver Nissan speed away from the scene.
RELATED | Attorney for Jacksonville rapper ‘Ksoo’ may seek civil suit due to alleged jail conditions
He followed the car, later identifying a man in all black getting out, possibly holding a rifle. But the defense said neither witness could see the shooter’s face and questioned their descriptions.
Another woman who took the stand last Thursday described finding two men standing in her Arlington home. She said they held her down and didn’t let her leave, then took clothes and a cellphone from the home before getting into a Charger-style vehicle.
She described the two men as “tattoo dude” and “squirrelly dude.” She said the man with the tattoos had “1993″ tattooed on his arm.
She identified Dominique Barner, who was born in 1993, but said she never saw the other man’s face. Prosecutors say that was Whitaker.
Technical testimony
On Monday, an FBI expert gave the jury a technical tutorial about how cellphones work with towers, how that information is recorded by cellphone companies, and how those records can be used by investigators to pinpoint the relative locations of cellphones. The expert could not definitively put Hakeem Robinson’s phone in the area of the shooting on that day.
He was followed by a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office latent fingerprint examiner, who testified that a print lifted from the slide of a gun found in the stolen Nissan matched Hakeem Robinson.
During cross-examination, Robinson’s attorney clarified with the fingerprint examiner that she could not testify as to when Hakeem Robinson left the print on the gun.
A certified forensic video examiner who assisted in the McCormick case also testified last week, explaining that a forensic video review of a dash cam that recorded the murder excluded Barner and Whitaker as possible candidates for the shooter but could not exclude Hakeem Ronbinson.
Defense attorneys argued that Hakeem Robinson stands well over 6 feet, while multiple witnesses estimated the gunman was much shorter.
Opening statements
Two juries have been seated -- one for each defendant -- and are hearing the case at the same time.
During opening statements last Wednesday, Assistant State Attorney Joel Cooper argued that McCormick’s affiliations with local rap groups made him Robinson’s target after he recorded the diss track.
Whitaker’s attorney, Julie Schlax, argued against his involvement in the shooting.
“There will be no question whatsoever… Leroy Whitaker did not pull the trigger. Leroy Whitaker had nothing to do with the death of Charles McCormick. That’s what the evidence will show," Whitaker’s attorney told the courtroom.
Hakeem Robinson’s attorney, Tara Kawass, turned her comments to the jury, asking them to “ignore” the descriptions that have placed Robinson as the shooter.
“Ignore the descriptions given by each and every person that saw the shooter,” she said to the jury. “Discredit them. Don’t believe them.”
Kawass claimed that it was actually Barner, not Robinson, who planned and orchestrated the murder.
“When you listen to all the credible, reliable evidence in this case, it’s only going to prove to you one thing: Hakeem Robinson is innocent. Find him not guilty,” she said.
After the McCormick trial concludes, Hakeem Robinson will face a separate murder trial for the 2019 shooting death of 16-year-old Adrian “Lil Bibby” Gainer Jr.
