Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 2, 1991 TAG: 9104020495
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE/ LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
"I . . . humbly apologize and will do everything to regain your confidence and support," he said in a speech on the House floor.
"I've served in this body for 10 years and I've formed a lot of friendships of which I'm proud," he added. "I would never do anything intentionally that would bring dishonor to this body."
Robinson said later that on Friday he paid the $54 ticket he received in Norfolk on March 19 for driving with an illegal radar detector.
Robinson received a smattering of applause Monday after delivering his calm, two-minute apology. He told his colleagues that "we all live under glass houses" and warned them that the media are likely to publicize their "travails."
House Speaker A.L. Philpott, D-Bassett, quickly accepted Robinson's apology. "All of us are human and subject to some lack of good judgment from time to time," he said.
A policeman with a video camera in his car nabbed Robinson for driving with the illegal device on Main Street in Norfolk. The policeman had an electronic instrument in his car - a "radar-detector detector" - that enabled him to catch Robinson.
According to the videotape, Robinson tried to talk his way out of the ticket by referring to a state law that he said exempts legislators from prosecution 30 days before and after General Assembly sessions. "I'm exempt from just about everything while I'm in session," he said.
Robinson said Monday that the policeman was correct in issuing the ticket. Although legislators are exempt from arrest during any session and for two weeks before and after the session, Robinson acknowledged that he is not immune from receiving traffic tickets or being prosecuted later for events occurring within the period.
"There is no blanket immunity from the process for the legal consequences of improper actions in the commonwealth, nor should there be," Robinson said in a letter to the editor that appears in The Virginian-Pilot today. "To my friends and constituents, and to the public at large, I do apologize."
by CNB