Mike Shannon response to the October 3, 2017 Town Talk article:

In response to the Town Talk article of October 3, 2017, which reports the unfounded
allegations of Darrel Robinson and his post-conviction attorneys, that they are aware of witnesses
to this crime who were unknown to the Rapides Parish Sheriffs Office or myself, as a prosecutor
of this case.

It is simply not believable that other witnesses unknown to the State were present, and
withheld this information for 20 years. If I or any other member of law enforcement had
knowledge of this information during the investigation or prosecution of this case, it would have
been investigated and released to the defendant.

This information simply did not exist. It reminds me of one of Robinsons first post-
conviction claims, in which he alleged that one member of the jury did not know this was a death
penalty case. They even provided the State with an affidavit from this juror that she did not
know it was a death penalty case. Again, an unbelievable claim. Does anyone believe that after
three weeks of jury selection and eight days of trial that any juror would not know this was a
death penalty case. What did the post-conviction attorney have to tell this juror to get her to sign
such an affidavit?

This is just one example of the many untruthful and misleading allegations made by
Robinson and his attorneys.

The Town Talk article is disappointing because they print these unfounded and
unsupported allegations as a fact, and did not even attempt to contact me for a response. In
addition, I have never refused to give a deposition.

In my 30 years as a prosecutor I have always performed my duties in an ethical and

honorable way. I never withheld evidence from a defendant, and never presented a case that I did
not believe the evidence clearly showed beyond a reasonable doubt the guilt of the defendant.