Robin Lovitt - Murder

Murder

Clayton Dicks was a manager at an Arlington pool hall, working the night shift. He was the only employee there from 3 a.m. onwards. Casel Lucas, an inmate who befriended Lovitt in prison testified that Lovitt told him that he hid in a bathroom until he knew there would be no other people in the pool hall. He then went to jimmy open the cash register but was disturbed by Dicks. Lovitt had previously worked as a cook at the pool hall. The manager, Amy Hudon, said that he had helped her pry open the cash register with scissors a few months before the murder. Lovitt ceased working there about two months before the murder.

Jose Alverado and Carlos Clavell entered the pool hall at 3:25 a.m. and witnessed two men fighting behind the counter. One of the men fighting proceeded to stab the other with a silver-colored weapon and then kicked him as he lay on the ground. Alverado and Clavell said that they ran from the pool hall to a service station and rang 9-1-1. Dicks was stabbed five times in his chest and once in his back. Four of these wounds were lethal. He was still alive when paramedics arrived but died after reaching hospital.

Police found that the cash register had been broken into and one of its money boxes was missing. A canine unit located a pair of bloodied, orange-handled scissors nearby that were identified as being a pair that were kept next to the cash register. DNA testing showed that the blood on them was from Dicks. Lovitt's cousin testified that Lovitt had come to his house on the night of 18 November carrying a metal box, which they opened with a screwdriver and split the money. Lovitt told police that he had seen a Hispanic man stabbing Dicks, and then took the cash box, which was lying on the floor of the pool hall. A forensic scientist testified that the cash box that was at the cousins house came from the cash register at the pool hall.