BOILING SPRINGS MAN RECEIVES 40-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR DEADLY BOTCHED ROBBERY

A Boiling Springs man received a 40-year prison sentence today after he admitted to killing a person during a botched robbery.

David Lynn Robbins, 20, pleaded guilty to murder, armed robbery, safecracking and first-degree burglary before Circuit Judge Mark Hayes. Robbins used a hammer to beat Daniel William Coleman, 30, of 413 Campground Road, to death on Aug. 7, 2004 at the victim’s home. He took a safe and other assorted property valued at more than a $1,100 when he fled.

Following the crime, Robbins talked about the incident with two local friends – Jessica West, 21, & William Anderson McClelland, 29, – and he paid them money that was stolen from the victim to keep them from talking about it.

Robbins was arrested in North Carolina days after the crime. He called the police to report that he was concerned that several people were after him because of some property that he had in the back of his truck. Upon closer inspection, the property had Coleman’s name on it. During an interview with Spartanburg County sheriff’s deputies, Robbins admitted to breaking into Coleman’s house. He told deputies that Coleman confronted him while he was inside the dwelling. An altercation ensued and Robbins used the hammer to strike Coleman in the back of his head. Robbins told deputies he was under the influence of drugs when he broke into the house. Deputies used DNA evidence to further link Robbins to the crime, according to Principal Deputy Solicitor Barry Barnette and Assistant Solicitor Jennifer Jordan.

Robbins will serve every day of the prison sentence before he is eligible for release. He is also serving a 15-year prison sentence for second-degree burglary and safecracking conviction that occurred earlier this year in Spartanburg County.

McClelland and West both pleaded guilty today to accessory after the fact of murder. McCelland received a 10-year prison sentence that was suspended to six months of house arrest and three years of probation. West received a Youthful Offenders Act that was suspended to six months of house arrest and three years of probation.