The trials in two related murder cases in Harrisonburg linked to an alleged serial killer have been postponed for more than a year.
Judge Bruce D. Albertson presided over a motions hearing in the Rockingham Circuit Court on Thursday in the cases of Tonita Lorece Smith and Allene "Beth" Redmon. The man charged with their murders, Anthony Eugene Robinson, has been called the Shopping Cart Killer by law enforcemen because he may have used shopping carts to move the bodies of his victims.
Robinson's attorney, Louis Nagy, asked the court to postpone the trials, which had been slated for August and September of this year, because a forensic psychiatrist hasn't finished a sanity evaluation that was due on July 3rd.
Nagy noted that the doctor is "swamped," being one of few psychiatrists in the area who is willing to take on such cases.
"My hands are largely tied until I get that," he said. Once he receives the report he will then need time to review it with Robinson and the doctor and decide how to proceed with the defense, he told the court.
Judge Albertson ordered the trials to be rescheduled.
Smith's murder case is now set to be tried in September 2024 and Redmon's in January 2025.