Opinion ID: 205906
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: April 13, 2007, 2:40 p.m.: Maxim Hair Studio

Text: 5. April 13, 2007, 3:35 p.m.: Vince‟s Service Center 6. April 15, 2007, 10:00 p.m.: Bill‟s Family Pizza 7. April 19, 2007, 9.30 p.m.: Alfred‟s Beverage Corporation Brunson was arrested while attempting to flee from the scene of the seventh robbery. The following day, police recovered a small silver handgun and vomit near the spot where Brunson was arrested. Subsequent DNA tests matched the vomit to Brunson. Items taken in the final robbery also were found at this location. (App. 211-18.) The government points to several similarities between the seven robberies: (1) all the robberies were committed by two men; (2) one robber was described as taller with dark skin, and the other (Brunson) as shorter with lighter skin; (3) except in one instance, both held and pointed guns, with one gun described as a small silver handgun (which fit the description of the gun recovered in the area where Brunson was arrested), and the other as a larger black handgun; (4) in nearly every robbery, the victims were ordered to lie on the ground; (5) victims who resisted were typically beaten by the taller robber, and in one instance a victim was shot by Brunson; (6) after ordering those present to lie down, the robbers would take money from the store‟s cash register and other locations where cash would be held; (7) the robbers would eventually turn to the employees and customers present, searching them for wallets, cellular phones, and jewelry; (8) before 3 leaving, the robbers would order the employees and customers to the back of the store, instructing them to kneel or lie down and to remain on the ground; and (9), the stores targeted were all small independently owned businesses in the general vicinity of Northeast Philadelphia, and nearly all were robbed just before closing time. (App. 6061.) The government proffers significant evidence tying these robberies together and Brunson to them all. A shell casing recovered from the first robbery, where an employee of Primo‟s Pizza was shot in the stomach while attempting to flee, matched the small, silver handgun recovered in the area where Brunson was arrested after the seventh robbery. (App. 61.) Additionally, Brunson also took and held onto items from his victims. When he was arrested for the final and seventh robbery, Brunson was wearing a gold chain taken from one of the victims of the sixth robbery. A subsequent search of Brunson‟s residence turned up ammunition that matched the small, silver handgun found near where Brunson was arrested, a Social Security card taken from a victim of the fifth robbery, and a cellular phone taken from a victim of the third robbery. (App. 61.) The government‟s attempt to proceed with a rather straightforward trial of these connected robberies was unfortunately thwarted by a pattern of unreasonable and largely unexplained rulings by the District Court.