Toledoan sentenced to 6 years in prison for role in death

8/28/2013
BLADE STAFF

A Toledo man was sentenced today to six years in prison for dumping his friend’s body in a North Toledo field then disposing of his clothing and cleaning out the car in which he was shot.

Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Gene Zmuda imposed the maximum prison term on Xavier Tate, 29, of 161 Austin St., after Tate pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and obstructing justice in the June, 2012 shooting death of La’Sean Robinson, 29.

Mr. Robinson, who was in the front seat of a car driven by Tate, was shot by Charles McCuin, a backseat passenger now serving 14 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence.

Tate apologized to the victim’s mother and told the court he had not forgiven himself for what happened that night. He said Mr. Robinson was his friend.

“Perhaps the old adage, ‘With friends like that who needs enemies?’ is appropriate given the way you treated your friend,” Judge Zmuda said. “Friends do not take the body, strip it of all clothing, and dump it in a field as if it was a piece of garbage thrown out the window, and that’s what you did to your friend.”