A final report from a Kingfisher grand jury contradicted claims that Benjamin Millis “indiscriminately” fired a gun into a crowd of partygoers, concluding he only fired at Christopher Robinson, who was shot and killed in May 2020.
Convened by law after a successful initiative petition, the grand jury declined to indict Millis in September. Jurors’ final report, dated Oct. 23, said their investigation “tends to” corroborate Benjamin Millis’ defense that he acted in self-defense May 9, 2020, when he fatally shot Robinson at a birthday party on the property of Trevor Gritz northwest of Hennessey. Kingfisher County District Attorney Tommy Humphries’ office oversaw the inquiry, and an interim report released in September indicates the grand jury spoke with 23 witnesses, issued 34 subpoenas and reviewed seven exhibits.
“We cannot conclude that the evidence would warrant a conviction by a jury trial,” the final report stated. “Much of the testimonial and video evidence we received tends to corroborate these defenses and we do not believe that the state could ultimately disprove these potential defenses at a trial.”
In a statement, Millis’ attorney said the report reiterated what his client’s family knew for years: “Benjamin Millis is innocent.”
“We have always maintained that a grand jury was unnecessary. Trained law enforcement officers and prosecutors declined to bring these charges years ago based upon substantially the same evidence,” said Andrew M. Casey, who represented Millis in the case.
Sierra Robinson, Christopher Robinson’s widow, said the grand jury’s decision was disappointing and painful.
“We believe there were serious concerns that should have gone to trial,” Robinson said. “The choice not to pursue charges has left us without the accountability my husband deserved. This has been incredibly hard, and we continue to stand by our hope for real justice.”
After launching their petition in May, James Everett Jones and Lindsay Jones gathered the required 942 signatures and successfully impaneled a grand jury in Kingfisher County to investigate the shooting, which they alleged had been mishandled by law enforcement.
Millis said in a 2020 police report that Gritz had thrown an object at his truck when he passed Grtiz’s property, prompting Millis to back up and stop near the property to see what had happened. The petition alleged that Millis then illegally fired several bullets indiscriminately into a crowd of men attending the party that had gathered near his truck, killing Robinson.
But the petition’s claim was contradicted by the grand jury’s final report, which said the situation was best described as “chaotic.”
“Witnesses gave accounts that varied on significant points based on their perspective,” the final report stated.
The report emphasized conflicting testimony about the number of times Millis had driven past the residence, his speed and whether children were playing in a ditch near the gravel road Millis was traversing. The report does not dispute that an object was thrown at Millis’ truck and that it caused confusion, prompting Millis to stop. But the report found significant disagreement about how the group of partygoers approached the vehicle. According to the report, witnesses disagreed about how the events proceeded, but all described a chaotic scene.
“Some witnesses recounted several of the male partygoers opening the driver’s side front door and attempting to forcibly remove Mr. Millis from his truck,” the final report stated. “Others are not sure who opened the door and deny that anyone tried to remove Millis from his truck.”
As partygoers were near Millis’ truck — which contained Millis’ wife, daughter and friend — he retrieved his pistol and warned individuals that he had a gun, according to the final report.
“One party goer testified that Mr. Robinson reached into the truck and attempted to take the gun away from Millis as Millis sat in his truck,” the final report stated. “Another partygoer corroborated that Mr. Robinson grabbed or attempted to grab the gun.”
At that point, Millis fired multiple shots, according to the report.
“Though the petition alleges Millis fired indiscriminately toward the partygoers, evidence suggests that Millis fired only at Robinson,” the final report stated. “We viewed a frame-by-frame analysis of video that began in the seconds before the fatal shooting. The video confirms that the front driver’s door was open and that Mr. Robinson was in a position which would have prevented the door from closing. It also shows the hands of another partygoer inside the back driver’s side window of the vehicle at the time of the shooting.”
There were burn marks near Robinson’s gunshot wounds that suggested shots were fired in close proximity, and not indiscriminately, according to the report.
“After the shooting, the chaos accelerated to pandemonium,” the final report stated.
Some partygoers turned their attention to caring for Robinson, while others focused on Millis, according to the report. The petition alleged that Millis began reading a statement on the back of a card related to a concealed carry permit, explaining that the shooting was in self-defense. But the final report said neither video nor testimony corroborates the petition’s claim.
According to their final report, jurors believed Millis had a legitimate “stand your ground” claim that would have been difficult to overcome for prosecution of the shooting.
Jurors concluded their report by acknowledging “that there is a great deal of interest in this case” and that “942 of our fellow citizens signed the petition.”
“We understand that some will be greatly disappointed that we did not return any indictments in this matter,” jurors wrote. “Mr. Robinson’s death is a tragedy. He was a husband and a father. Our job was not to make moral or value judgments about the actions of Mr. Millis. We weren’t impaneled to decide whether he did right or wrong. Rather, under our oath, we were constitutionally bound to diligently inquire, gather facts, and consider Oklahoma law. Rest assured, we followed our oath to the best of our collective ability and humbly considered the evidence along with Oklahoma law.”
Casey, Millis’ attorney, said he hopes the grand jury’s final report brings closure to the event.
“We understand that the family and friends of Christopher Robinson will continue to be in pain from losing a loved one,” Casey said.
