Opinion ID: 2005169
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: rodriguez scouts the bank; the plan unravels

Text: On September 26, 2002, Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo, and Erick Vela entered a bank in Norfolk, Madison County, Nebraska. They shot and killed four bank employees and a customer in a botched robbery. Rodriguez, Sandoval's half brother, acted as the scout. Galindo testified that he, Sandoval, and Rodriguez first discussed robbing the bank about a month before the killings. According to Galindo, Rodriguez was to drive the others near the bank and drop them off; then, Rodriguez would enter the bank and see how many people were inside. On the morning of September 26, 2002, Rodriguez awoke at about 8 a.m. and informed his girl friend that he was leaving to take Sandoval to get a job application. About 8:20 that morning, Galindo testified, Rodriguez picked him up, with Sandoval and Vela already in the car. Galindo testified they drove by the bank a couple times, and then Rodriguez dropped the others off about five blocks from the bank. A bank surveillance tape shows that Rodriguez entered the bank shortly after 8:30 a.m. He spoke briefly with a bank teller, looked around several times, and then left. He used a walkie-talkie to inform the others of how many people were inside the bank and their locations. About 7 minutes after Rodriguez left the bank, Sandoval, Galindo, and Vela entered the bank, intending to rob it. Instead, the plan unraveled, and in a period of about 40 seconds, they shot and killed bank employees Samuel Sun, Jo Mausbach, Lisa Bryant, and Lola Elwood and customer Evonne Tuttle. Galindo testified that originally, he, Sandoval, and Vela planned to take a bank employee's car as their getaway. But because [e]verything went wrong, they instead ran from the bank and stole a car from a nearby home. They then drove toward the hospital, where Rodriguez was supposed to pick them up. Before reaching the hospital, however, they decided to steal another car instead and fled toward O'Neill, Nebraska, where police later apprehended them. According to Rodriguez' girl friend, Rodriguez arrived back at their apartment around 9 a.m. Rodriguez did not immediately tell her that he had been at the bank that morning. But just before she left for work, he told her he had gone there to open an account. He told her that if anyone asked, she should say she had known he was opening an account and had gone with him. Around 5 or 6 o'clock that evening, Rodriguez went to Denise Garvin's home in Columbus, Nebraska. While there, he cried in the presence of Garvin and her boyfriend, saying he had let his brothers down and felt bad because he was not there for them. Garvin, her boyfriend, and Rodriguez then went to Norfolk. Garvin testified that on the way there, Rodriguez cried and talked more about his job. He said that his job that day was to look at the position of everyone in the bank and be the getaway driver. He also again stated that he let his brothers down because he got scared when he heard gunshots and took off. Once they arrived in Norfolk, they went to a residence there, where Rodriguez continued to discuss how he had let his brothers down. While at the residence, Rodriguez saw his picture on the news. He then left, stating that he was going to turn himself in. Police apprehended him outside his house around midnight.