Tempe Municipal Court judge accused of stabbing wife 10 times
CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) -- A Tempe Municipal Court judge was arrested in the stabbing of his wife 10 times at their Arizona home last month during a domestic violence incident, according to court documents released Monday.
Thomas Robinson was taken into custody Friday by Chandler police and booked into jail on suspicion of 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of tampering with evidence.
Bond was set at $50,000 for the 55-year-old Robinson at his initial court appearance, where he didn't have an attorney and an Oct. 3 preliminary hearing was scheduled.
The arrest was reported to the Commission on Judicial Conduct on Saturday and Tempe city officials have placed Robinson on paid administrative leave pending the results of the investigation.
Robinson's wife, whose name is redacted from police reports, was treated at a hospital on Aug. 25 and initially told authorities an unknown intruder had entered the couple's home and stabbed her.
Police said Thomas Robinson told officers he went for a walk early that morning, left a door unlocked and returned to find his wife wounded.
Court documents show Robinson's wife called an emergency crisis line Thursday and said her husband was the person who stabbed her and she claimed it was a stranger because she didn't want him to get in trouble.
Police searched the Robinsons' home and reported finding two objects with apparent blood spatter.
According to police, Robinson later acknowledged he dumped a knife, bedding and other evidence in a trash container behind a business.
Court documents show Robinson and his wife argued over suspicions on his infidelity after she saw a name she didn't recognize on his cellphone, called the number and a woman answered.
When Robinson left the home, his wife flushed some of her husband's prized personal possessions down the toilet, according to police.
Records show Robinson came back home, saw the damage his wife had done, and "stabbed her multiple times in the chest, back, arm and face" out of anger.
They had to go to the hospital because her arm wouldn't stop bleeding, but agreed on a story they would tell hospital staff to avoid any investigation or prosecution, the records state.
Robinson has been with Tempe courts since 1995 and been a Municipal Court judge since 2009.