Letter from Sharon Irwin
I have been asked to explain why it took seven years to get here. I often ask the same question, because I have actively sought a way for justice to come for my Grandson, Tony Terrell Robinson Jr, for all seven of these years. I did not stop. Here is my breakdown.
First, I am a citizen of the city of Madison. When my Grandson Tony Terrell was killed by officer Matt Kenny on March 6, 2015, I had no idea what seeking justice looked like. I am not a lawyer, did not know of statutes or what possibilities to pursue as an avenue to the courts, besides DA Ishmael Ozanne. After Ozanne announced there would be no charges, two days after Mother’s Day, I repeatedly sought him out, asking him to reconsider. Four times in his office since 2015, three times in the community where I sought him out at coffee clutches with the neighborhoods, and once at an AIDS fundraiser where I was volunteering. This does not include the numerous times I reached out to Julie Folie with the victim witness program in the DA’s office, trying to get to Ozanne and ask him why, and please look again, even giving him new evidence. They have gotten to know me well there. The police department did as well. I stood outside Chief Koval’s office every month for 3 years, reminding Koval he cheated. That there was no real investigation. That Kenny killed Terrell without cause and he needed to look at the evidence. He would not.
The first two years I choose to wait for attorneys Loevey and Loevey to complete their investigations and take this case to civil court, which happened, and a settlement was agreed upon with my daughter Andrea Irwin and Tony Robinson Sr. I was unhappy about their decision because I know the evidence points to homicide and no amount of money makes his murder justified. I chose another path. I never received any money from that settlement. It was blood money to me. I left town Dec of 2017, my family in shambles. Terrell’s death and that horrible settlement destroyed my family. Overwhelmed with everything, I moved to the state of Oregon, stayed 9 months, and came back when I realized I needed to be in Madison to finish what I started, and take care of my grandson Malik, who was couch surfing, without a stable environment for school. I was back November of 2018. We, a few dedicated friends, were looking at a Jane Doe procedure and what it would take to get that accomplished. I realized all the evidence from the civil case, all the expert witnesses, and Judge Peterson's summary are new evidence. Ozanne would not even look at it.
I went to lawyer after lawyer asking for help, telling them I would make monthly payments from my military disability if they would take the case. No one would. I did this almost 2 years while I continued to stand in the streets, never letting this city forget Matt Kenny took Terrell’s life without cause. In the spring of 2020 a friend, Greg, who has been with me in this struggle from the beginning, told me about a 968.02 sub 3 WI Statute that just might work for us. Syovata Edari, a chocolatier/criminal attorney, who has been in my life a long time before Terrell’s murder, also mentioned WI Statute 968.02 sub 3, and stepped up to help, no longer able to stand by and watch me suffer year after year, begging for help and receiving nothing. She began working on the petition for review, spending hundreds of hours on it in-between the one-hundred hours a week she works her chocolate business.
Since she took on the case we have moved forward quickly, but you have to remember, this is totally new adventure for the attorneys helping Vata complete the petition for review. The donations from SJC fundraising page are for the attorney fees and from the community who wish to see a jury of 12 to decide Tony Robinson's case. Vata did all the work herself until February of this year when she reached out to Barry Slagle, a retired public defender of 25 years and court commission hearing probable cause cases for another 20 years, and one other attorney to help with the final petition and the presentation.* The review is done and placed before the courts as you are reading this. We still have the journey of presentation and the hundreds of hours it will take for that. I have never stopped advocating for my grandson, even when half the city called me raging lunatic, the name ex chief of police Koval called me in his frustration. For this is what I have been working toward.
Sharon Irwin-Henry
*At the time of posting, there is now a team of 7 attorneys working on the case. For more, see the case details via Wisconsin Circuit Court Access here.
