Giovanni Olivieri booking photo Casa Grande Police Department
Brian Robinette tried to save a woman who was being dragged across a parking lot by her boyfriend and in return, he was shot eight times in cold blood. Now, Robinette’s killer, Giovanni Olivieri, has been sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Olivieri, of Casa Grande, Arizona, was found guilty last week of multiple felonies including second-degree murder, according to a statement from the Pinal County District Attorney’s Office. Olivieri, who pleaded not guilty before going to trial, was also convicted by jurors at the Pinal County Superior Court of endangerment and unlawful discharge of a weapon within city limits. He was convicted of misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct as well.
Oliveri was arrested in September 2021 after Casa Grande police responded to a shooting at the parking lot of a Radisson Hotel. Once there, according to the Casa Grande Dispatch, they found Robinette, a 35-year-old man, with multiple gunshots to his torso. Robinette, also a father of two, was transported to a medical center shortly thereafter but died after succumbing to his injuries.
Local NBC affiliate KPNX reported that Robinette had approached Olivieri, then 22, and Olivieri’s girlfriend, then 19, as Olivieri was dragging her by her neck through the hotel parking lot. The couple had been fighting, according to the district attorney’s office.
Robinette tried to get the woman out of Olivieri’s clutches but to no avail. Instead, Olivieri let the woman go and shot Robinette eight times. He then fled with the young woman. The district attorney’s office said Robinette did not know the couple and was merely being a good Samaritan.
KPNX reported that police apprehended Olivieri at his girlfriend’s residence 12 hours after the slaying.
At Olivieri’s sentencing hearing this week, Robinette was remembered as a loving father who loved music and playing guitar.
According to the Casa Grande Dispatch, Robinette’s older brother Michael Bowling described his sibling as “very timid,” “shy” and a “gentle person who could never stand to see someone get hurt.”
“He was very against violence,” Bowling told the outlet.
Bowling claimed that when his brother first heard Olivieri and the woman arguing, he went to intervene and Olivieri put a gun to Robinette’s head. Robinette walked away, his brother claimed, but when the arguing started up again, he turned back around to confront Olivieri and that’s when things turned deadly.
“He couldn’t let it go on,” Bowling told the Dispatch.
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