KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Robin Howington, the mother accused of killing her 5-year-old daughter in September 2019, testified on Thursday how a day out with her family turned fatal.
Over the last few days, prosecutors said Howington repeatedly lied and tampered with evidence. For the first time, they had a chance to cross-examine her under oath on Thursday.
On the night of the incident, after the family got home from a day at the park, she said she took her kids inside because they were asleep. She went out for a cigarette and went to move her car because it was obstructing the mail, she said.
“I was walking up to my house and it’s a glass door and see a flash of light go off,” Howington said.
She walked inside and she said she found her 2-year-old son crying and screaming. Destiny Oliver, her 5-year-old daughter, was on the couch and the gun was lying on the floor, she said.
“I got the gun and took it outside,” Howington said.
The defense attorney asked her why she took it outside.
Evidence previously showed that Howington was trying to get rid of the gun, which she had dropped outside in a bush.
“Because I didn’t want it to cause more harm,” Howington said.
Prosecutors today called to the stand Brandon Wardlaw, one of the Knoxville Police Department investigators who questioned Howington back in 2019. The trial turned into a small battlefield, as the defense said authorities mishandled the investigation.
Mike Whalen, the defense attorney, said from the beginning Howington told them she was raped by an officer and she was scared.
“Then you watch Riddle lose his mind and yell and scream at her. Did you ever stop and say, 'Whoa whoa let’s talk a minute?' Did you ever say that?," said Whalen.
“No,” Wardlaw said.
Wardlaw said they had a goal that night — to find out who had killed Destiny.
The prosecutors also brought today to the stand Dr. Amy Hawes, assistant medical examiner and forensic pathologist at the Knox County Regional Forensic Center, who said the gun was held close when it was fired.
Evidence also showed there was gun residue on Howington's dress and on the 2-year-old's clothes.
“I would say the gun was held from a few inches up to a couple of feet away, and it depends on the type of gun and type of ammunition that was used,” Hawes said.
Several different versions of events followed the incident, all telling different stories about who shot her little girl. Howington changed her story from how a random guy came in and shot her daughter, to the father of her child, to her young son.
Now on oath, Howington testified she tried to get rid of the gun to protect her 2-year-old son because he was the one who pulled the trigger.
“Because I knew that was the gun that (the young boy) used to shoot Destiny, and I was trying to protect him,” Howington said.
She said she never thought she would face a murder charge.
“Because I didn’t have anything to do with the shooting of my daughter,” Howington said.