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DNA Say Teen Didn't Break In

He served 6 months until he was exonerated

By Joe Piraneo

| Friday, Nov 20, 2009 | Updated 9:45 AM EST

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DNA evidence helps exonerate a teen from a February home invasion.

When a man wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun invaded a home on Second Avenue in West Haven, one of the women inside fought him off with a bat. He got away with wallets and cell phones, but the woman said she got a good look at him.

After all, he’d left behind his mask, his gun and even his shirt when he fled on Feb. 2.

Four months later, cops arrested a teen. But that teen, Fabien Robinson, 19, of New Haven, was the wrong guy, DNA indicates.

On Wednesday, Robinson was released from jail after six months behind bars. A Connecticut judge dropped charges.

Robinson was exonerated and placed back on probation after admitting Wednesday to violating terms of his release for a prior, unrelated robbery in 2008, the New Haven Register reports.

So now, the search resumes for whoever broke in and forced three women inside into a bedroom. Two of the women got away, but the one who fought back bashed the guy over the head with the bat.

Police began to investigate Robinson after “anonymous sources” told police in days leading up to the home invasion with a gun that matched the description of the one used in the crime, according to the Register.

Robinson was arrested in June, but DNA samples taken from the mouth area of the ski mask, the barrel and handle of the gun and a “blood-like” material on the baseball bat excluded Robinson, Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Charles M. Stango told the Register.

“The DNA secured at the crime scene came from a different individual,” Stango told the Register. “This was not the guy.”

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