WHITE CLOUD, Mich. (WOOD) — The maternal grandmother of a boy who was shot and killed in her home pleaded no contest Tuesday to felony child abuse, avoiding a potential prison term under the state’s safe storage law.
Theresa Robart, 65, pleaded to second-degree child abuse the day before her trial was slated to start in Newaygo County Circuit Court in the April 1 death of her 5-year-old grandson, Braxton Dykstra.
Under the plea deal, the Newaygo County Prosecutor’s Office recommended no prison time. Sentencing guidelines call for 10 to 23 months behind bars.
The most serious charge she was facing — firearms safe storage with a minor present and inflicted death to another — was dismissed. That carries up to 15 years in prison.
Her husband Karl Robart, the boy’s grandfather, was sentenced earlier this month to between 38 months and 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to the safe storage law.
The shooting happened at the Robarts’ home near Newaygo. Karl Robart and his wife were accused of leaving a 12-gauge shotgun behind a bedroom door, near where their grandchildren were watching movies.
Braxton was shot and killed when his 6-year-old cousin picked up the gun, pointed it at Braxton and pulled the trigger.
In court on Tuesday, Braxton’s family wore T-shirts bearing the boy’s photograph and the words, “Justice for Braxton.”
After the hearing, a sheriff’s deputy helped break up a shouting match between one side of Braxton’s family and some who were there to support the now-convicted maternal grandmother.
The paternal grandmother, Shawn Dykstra, said she doesn’t believe they got justice.
“Nobody has taken responsibility for the death of my grandson,” she said. “The grandfather didn’t. He pled no contest. The grandma did it again, too.”
But, she said, Braxton’s parents reluctantly agreed with the plea. Their 8-year-old daughter witnessed the shooting.
“It keeps my granddaughter off the stand,” Dykstra said. “My granddaughter has been through enough. She was there that day. She was in the room. It keeps my granddaughter from having to testify.”
Theresa Robart’s attorney, Terry Nolan, said the plea deal likely will mean 10 months in the county jail, but no prison time.
“It’s a tough one for us because my client’s never touched a gun in her life,” Nolan said after the hearing. “She never had control of any of the weapons in the house. That was strictly something that her husband was in charge of.
“I think the police report makes it very clear that a couple days before that she had noticed the gun when she was cleaning and asked him to put it away and thought that it had been taken care of,” Nolan continued.
But, he said, the law requires anyone with control of the home to keep guns safely locked away.
He called it “one of the worst tragedies I’ve had in my long career. Very sad.”
Records show Karl Robart is likely the first convicted under Michigan’s safe storage laws, which went into effect in February. At least three others have been charged — one each in Genesee and Macomb counties, plus a case out of Grand Rapids announced Tuesday — but records show those cases are pending. In all three of those cases, a child was injured.
