Opinion ID: 1966794
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Werner's Criminal History

Text: Late in the afternoon of August 30, 1990, bank tellers Michelle Payette and Gary Kowalik were hard at work at West Warwick Credit Union. A man, later identified by both tellers as Keith Werner, entered the building, gun in hand, proclaiming This is a stick-up. Give me all your money. Werner then approached Payette's window, pointed his gun at her, and demanded that she fill his bag with money. After doing the same to Kowalik, the robber ran out of the building with a bag full of loot. While exiting the building, Werner bumped into customer David Nobriga. After being alerted to the robbery by the bank manager, Nobriga chased Werner down the street. After Nobriga saw Werner enter a white car, he then returned to the credit union and alerted the police of the car's registration number. Werner's escape was stymied by heavy traffic, and, after locating the car, several West Warwick police officers approached with weapons drawn. Unable to effectuate the occupants' surrender, they disabled the vehicle by shooting out its tires. Soon after, Frank Palermo, the car's driver, surrendered to the police. But Werner, wounded by an errant bullet, steadfastly remained in the vehicle, armed and with his finger on the gun's trigger, until an officer finally forced him out of the car. Between the time of his arrest and his 1993 conviction for the robbery of the West Warwick Credit Union, Werner managed to commit several crimes in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. By early 1993 he found himself in prison, convicted of a Massachusetts home invasion. Soon after he was sentenced by a Massachusetts court, the Rhode Island Attorney General commenced efforts pursuant to the IADA to seek Werner's custody in Rhode Island to face a number of charges here, including those resulting from the West Warwick Credit Union robbery. By August 1993, Werner was returned to Rhode Island and, over the course of the following year and a half, he was tried on numerous charges. At the trial for the credit union robbery in December 1993, Frank Palermo testified to Werner's participation. Werner maintained his innocence, contending that Palermo had committed the robbery, kidnapped Werner at gunpoint, and demanded that he ferry him away from the scene of the crime. After the trial justice denied his motion to dismiss based on the alleged violations of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act, Werner was convicted of robbery, conspiracy to rob, and carrying a pistol without a license. We pause here to state that Keith Werner is by no means a stranger to the criminal justice system. In addition to the sentence Werner began serving in 1993 in Massachusetts for home invasion, and the convictions stemming from the West Warwick Credit Union robbery from which he now appeals, Werner has involved himself in a myriad of criminal activities that make him all too familiar to us. His track record includes convictions for assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a loaded weapon in a vehicle, and possession of a sawed-off shotgun, all resulting from an incident outside of Johnny Ray's Bar, a West Warwick drinking establishment, where Werner cavalierly shot two bystanders who attempted to intervene in an altercation in which he was involved. Werner has been involved in other criminal activities, some of a cruel and heinous nature. Of particular note are Werner's convictions for robbery, larceny of an automobile, and assault with a dangerous weapon arising from an attack on an expectant mother outside a local bank. He not only robbed his unarmed victim at gunpoint, but coolly proceeded to shoot her in the stomach in response to her pleas not to harm her. He then stole her car. Werner has exhibited criminal behavior not only while on the street, but also during his prison stays as well, demonstrated by a conviction for assault with a dangerous weapon after stabbing, slashing, and biting a correctional officer at the Adult Correctional Institutions.