Despite video evidence, men accused of murdering Miami girl in drive-by reject plea deals

With videotaped confessions, damning surveillance footage and crucial cellphone evidence, prosecutors say they have a rock-solid case against the two men charged with murdering 7-year-old Alana Washington in a drive-by shooting in Brownsville in July 2020. But this week, both men rejected possible plea deals and elected to go trial.

Now, they’ll be facing either life in prison — or possibly the death penalty.

Antonio Robinson, charged as the driver of the car used in the ambush-style attack that killed Alana and wounded an infant after a trip to a local flea market, was the closest to accepting a plea deal. In court last week, Robinson, 23, offered to serve 30 years in prison — and the girl’s family and prosecutors ultimately agreed.

But on Friday, appearing in court virtually from jail, Robinson — who has said he didn’t want to testify against anyone — had a change of heart. “Your honor, 30 years is just too much,” Robinson told Circuit Judge Ellen Venzer.

“I understand that is your view of this case. However there is a child that is dead, an innocent child, and another one who was badly injured,” Venzer told him. “Thirty years seems but a drop in the bucket for their family.”

With plea talks fizzled, Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Nilo Cuervo announced in court that he would take the case to the grand jury for an indictment for first-degree murder. That means Robinson and the suspected shooter, Jarvis Baker-Flanders, may face the death penalty if convicted at trial.

“The grand jury will hear his confession. They will hear his co-defendant’s confession. They will see the video. They will see the video of him following the victim at the flea market. They will see the video of him following them down the street. They will see the video of the shooting,” Cuervo said.

For now, Robinson’s trial is set to begin June 6.

Baker-Flanders appeared in court earlier this week and also rejected entertaining any plea deals. Prosecutors said victims’ family could be willing to accept 40 years in prison.

The murder of Alana sparked vigils and marches calling for justice for the slain girl, and was one of several violent child deaths in 2020.

Alana was shot on the night of July 25, 2020, along with a 1-year-old relative and two adults in a drive-by shooting outside a home on the 2900 block of Northwest 51st Street. Alana was shot in the head, and was removed from life support two days later at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Investigators believe the drive-by came in retaliation for another fatal shooting months earlier in Northwest Miami-Dade.

Prosecutors say Robinson and Baker-Flanders were targeting Demtriel Rice, Alana’s older brother, who on the day of the shooting had gone to a Liberty City flea market with family.

Surveillance video showed they were being tailed by Robinson and Baker-Flanders, who followed them while in a gray Nissan Altima. Another man in a black Volkswagen was also watching the targets in the parking lot and calling Baker-Flanders, an arrest warrant said. The shooting happened after the adults — along with the children — were getting out of their car after they arrived back to the home on the 2900 block of Northwest 51st Street.

Detectives later identified the Altima as one lent to Baker-Flanders on the day of the shooting, the warrant said. Cellphone data also showed that Robinson and Baker-Flanders were in the area of the flea market, and the drive-by shooting, that day, according to police.

This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 11:34 AM.