Broward County Circuit Judge Bernard Bober declared a mistrial on Monday in the case of a love triangle among roommates that prosecutors say turned deadly in Plantation.
Eric Robinson stands accused of killing Nicholis J. Wilcox, a father of three from Connecticut who worked in construction and specialized in roofing.
“I am really not happy about it but it’s what I have to do,” Bober said about the mistrial.
Bober had ordered that there be no mention of Robinson’s history of domestic violence when Mereidis Kensek, a witness who was testifying under oath, said, “There was a restraining order.”
Robinson’s defense asked Bober for a mistrial since Kensek, Robinson’s former fiancee, was explaining why Robinson no longer lived at the townhome where prosecutors said he killed Wilcox.
Wilcox was 39 years old when police officers found him dead in a dumpster behind a shopping center.
Prosecutors said that even though Robinson and Isabella Tagliarini had broken up, he was enraged when he found her and Wilcox sleeping together in the townhouse, at 7201 NW 15 St.
Prosecutors accused Robinson of using a metal crowbar to bludgeon Wilcox to death while he was sleeping next to Tagliarini at about 2:30 a.m., on Oct. 5, 2017, three days after he was released from jail.
Wilcox suffered head injuries when Robinson struck him in the face and throat, detectives reported.
Tagliarini claimed to have participated in the crime scene clean up and the disposal of the body because she was afraid that Robinson was going to kill her too, according to prosecutors.
Broward Sheriff’s Office records show Plantation detectives arrested Robinson on Oct. 5, 2017, and deputies have held him without bond at the main jail on six charges, including murder, domestic violence, a probation violation on a cocaine possession case, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Robinson had a history of arrests for domestic violence battery by strangulation on June 2, 2017; opium possession and aggravated battery on Aug. 9, 2016; and cocaine possession on July 19, 2001; March 10, 2011; April 8, 2017; and Aug. 23, 2017, Broward court records show.
Prosecutors charged Robinson with murder with a depraved mind, a second-degree felony, and Tagliarini with accessory after the fact, a third-degree felony. Her case is also pending, records show.
After declaring the mistrial, Bober announced the new plan was to complete jury selection in Robinson’s case this week, so testimony can begin on a new trial on April 24.
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