Archie Lamont Robinson

Two men who were present during a March homicide were unable to identify a man charged with the crime during a preliminary hearing in Douglas County District Court Thursday.

Archie Lamont Robinson, 29, of Topeka is charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery in connection with the death of Patrick Roberts, 39, of Lawrence.

Roberts’ son, 17-year-old son Michael Roberts, and his brother, Wayne Roberts, testified Thursday that sometime between 2 and 3 a.m. March 8, two men beat on, then kicked in the door to their duplex in the 2400 block of Cedarwood Avenue.

Michael Roberts said that after they entered, one of the men pointed a gun at him as the men opened the door to his father’s room and demanded an unknown object.

“I heard the man with the gun say, ‘Where is it?'” Michael Roberts said. “My dad said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Then I heard a gunshot.”

Wayne Roberts said he woke up to the sound of the shot and ran into the living room, where he put a chokehold on the man with the gun. The two struggled, the gun went off again and the second man attempted to intervene before Wayne Roberts pried the gun out of the man’s hands and both men fled, he said.

Michael and Wayne Roberts both said they could see that the intruders were black males, one in light clothing and the other in dark, but could not describe the men in any detail.

Asked in court on Thursday whether they had seen Archie Robinson before, both Roberts men said they had not.

A Nike tennis shoe allegedly belonging to one of the two men was left in the apartment after the struggle with Wayne Roberts, Lawrence Police detective Zachariah Thomas said. Three weeks later, a matching tennis shoe was found in the commons area of an apartment complex in the 2400 block of Redbud Lane, about three blocks west of the crime scene, Thomas said.

Robinson and another man, Dustin D. Walker, also charged with first-degree murder in connection with Roberts’ death, were apprehended after being spotted running through yards and hopping fences in the area following the shooting, Lawrence Police officer Josh Lightner said. Lightner said Robinson had blood on his shirt and pants and he was not wearing shoes when he was arrested.

Judge Paula Martin will decide whether Robinson’s case should head to trial after the second half of his preliminary hearing Tuesday.