Fugitive in dismemberment case makes court appearance

<p>A captured fugitive accused of torturing and dismembering a man glared at the victim's family during a court appearance.</p><p>Chaunson Lavel McKibbins, a convicted cocaine trafficker, is charged with killing Demetrius Robbins, 27, because he believed Robbins had stolen cocaine, Fulton County prosecutor Al Dixon said.</p><p>McKibbins, 33, had been a fugitive since 1999 but was arrested last week.</p><p>He was led into court Thursday by a SWAT team for a pretrial hearing. He turned and glared at the victim's mother, grandmother, cousins and aunts, who were seated behind prosecutors.</p><p>"Did you see the look he gave?" Dixon said outside the courtroom. "He gave the family a death stare."</p><p>McKibbins is charged with murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, concealing a death and tampering with evidence, prosecutors said. If convicted of killing Robbins, he would face a life sentence.</p><p>During the pretrial hearing, McKibbins told Fulton Superior Court Judge Alice Bonner he did not need a court-appointed lawyer because his family planned to hire prominent attorney Bruce Harvey.</p><p>Prosecutors say McKibbins and five associates kidnapped Robbins on Nov. 18, 2001, taking him to an apartment and beating him. Robbins later was tortured and killed, police said.</p><p>Investigators say McKibbins then cut up the body with a chain saw. Robbins' head was buried in Fulton County, and the rest of him was buried in DeKalb County.</p><p>McKibbins was already on the run from authorities when Robbins was killed.</p><p>McKibbins was on trial for cocaine trafficking charges in 1999 when he asked to use the restroom and never returned to the courtroom. Jurors convicted him in absentia and the judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison.</p><p>Investigators believe McKibbins kept on the move throughout Georgia, Florida and Alabama and even dressed in drag to avoid capture.</p><p>Acting on a tip, police closed in on McKibbins last Friday after he pulled into a gas station in south Fulton County.</p><p>Two of McKibbins' associates have entered guilty pleas. Three were acquitted of murder, but one still faces kidnapping charges because a jury could not agree on a verdict on that charge.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2864b14)</p>