Opinion ID: 475290
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 7 On the evening of November 27, 1983, a woman knocked on the door of the Crystal City, Missouri home of Robert Smith, the president of Commerce Bank of Festus, Missouri. Mrs. Smith opened the door to give the woman directions and a man came through the door, pushing Mrs. Smith into the foyer and onto the floor. Mrs. Smith's daughter was also pushed to the floor. When Mr. Smith came downstairs with his son Jason, they were met by a man pointing a .30 caliber carbine at them. When Mr. Smith reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw a second gunman pointing a machine gun at his wife and daughter. The two men pushed Mr. Smith and Jason down to the floor and handcuffed Mr. Smith's hands behind his back. One of the gunmen then displayed what appeared to be a bomb. Mr. Smith was at this point taken aside and told that the men were there to rob the bank the next morning. 8 At the time the men came to the house they wore ski masks over their faces. However, the mask worn by one of the men slipped back around his face as he struggled with Mr. Smith and Mrs. Smith saw a portion of his face, including his brow, eyes, nose, mouth, and cheekbones. 9 At about 5 a.m. the following morning one of the gunmen took Mr. Smith to prepare to go to the bank. After tying up the rest of the family in the basement and telling them that there was a bomb attached to the basement door, the gunmen took Mr. Smith to the bank, using Mr. Smith's car. A ski mask was put over his face and he was forced to lie down on the back seat of the car. 10 After arriving at the bank, the gunmen positioned themselves one at the front door and one at the back door. As the employees arrived, Mr. Smith greeted them and took them to an area designated by the robbers. He explained that the bank was being robbed and that his family was being held hostage. After the time lock opened on the vault door, the robbers took the money, herded the bank employees into the vault, and shut the door. The men then fled. Mr. Smith waited until 8:30, then let the employees out, and called the police. Meanwhile, at the Smith house, Mrs. Smith and the children had untied themselves and found there was no bomb attached to the basement door. 11 Following the incident, Mrs. Smith prepared a composite drawing of the woman who knocked on the door and of the gunman whom she had caught a glimpse of under his ski mask. The FBI agent in charge of the case was able to identify the woman in the drawing as Carol Martin. He contacted Martin to question her about any knowledge she might have of the robbery. After her initial denial of any knowledge, she admitted her involvement in the robbery and identified the persons involved in exchange for her not being prosecuted. Martin admitted that she had been the woman who knocked on the door of the Smith residence. She said that the others participating in the robbery were Michael Wright, Frank Enriquez, and Wayne Eggleton, with Enriquez and Eggleton being the pair of gunmen who invaded the Smith home. In addition, Martin then gave the agent considerable information about the preparation for the robbery and what had happened subsequent to the robbery. 12 Based on the information provided by Martin, the FBI obtained arrest warrants for Wright, Enriquez, and Eggleton. Although Enriquez and Wright were arrested, the FBI was unable to arrest Eggleton because he had left the area. Following Wright's arrest, he agreed to cooperate with the government in the investigation in exchange for the dropping of all charges against him but that for conspiracy to rob the Festus bank. Wright confirmed the information provided by Martin and provided additional details. He described how they had made the bomb that was shown to the Smiths, and how he had thrown the bomb and other explosive devices into the Meramec River. The bag containing the devices was later found on the Meramec River bank on January 1, 1984. 13 The evidence showed that Eggleton had left his home in North Carolina on December 16, 1983. From there he traveled for the next thirteen months, going to Florida, the Dominican Republic, Kentucky, Costa Rica, Tennessee, and Texas. During this time he took an assumed name, obtaining various kinds of identification under that name. 14 On July 23, 1985 Eggleton was arrested in El Paso, Texas by the FBI. At the time of his arrest he was heavily armed. He wore a shoulder-holstered .357 caliber pistol. In the car agents found a loaded M-14 rifle, several incendiary devices, several knives, a machete, and various other pieces of military field gear. 15 Following his arrest, Eggleton was taken to the St. Louis area where he was placed in a lineup viewed by Mrs. Smith. She identified him as one of the gunmen who had broken into her home on November 27, 1983. She also identified him at trial. 16 One of the witneses at the trial was Lynn West, a friend of Eggleton, who testified that he had spoken to Eggleton before the eventual arrest and urged him to turn himself in. Eggleton told West that he would prefer to take his chances on the outside. 17 Eggleton testified that he had been in the St. Louis area at the time of the bank robbery, but did not participate in the robbery of the Commerce Bank or the invasion of the Smith home. Rather, Eggleton claimed that he and Enriquez had swindled Michael Wright and others who had given them money with which to purchase drugs. Eggleton thereafter fled the area, believing that those that he had robbed had a contract with the Mafia to kill him. It was only later, he alleges, that he learned that the police wanted to arrest him for the robbery of the Commerce Bank. 18 At the close of the trial, the jury returned a guilty verdict, and the judge sentenced him to forty-five years imprisonment. 19