Opinion ID: 2619
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Douglas's Defense

Text: Douglas's defense consisted principally of his own testimony. He admitted that he had made most of the statements to which his cousin and friend testified; but Douglas testified that he had given them a story that he had made up (Tr. 569). Douglas testified that he had in fact been at the site of the Yonkers ATMs on the morning in question, had put Moran's body in the trunk of Moran's car, and had left the scene in his girlfriend's SUV. He also admitted that he had gone to Florida and told his cousin and their friend that he and Moran had planned to rob the ATMs together and that Moran had accidentally died. However, Douglas denied that he had said anything about hitting Moran, tying him up, or taping his mouth; he also denied that he had gone to see whether the ATMs' expected cash delivery had arrived or had tightened the tape on Moran's mouth. Douglas testified that in fact Moran had been killed by another man. Douglas testified that some three months prior to April 22, he encountered a man he had not met before and the man began extorting money from him by threatening him and his family. Douglas  who testified that in Jamaica he had been a policeman for more than six years  never notified the authorities of the extortion ( see, e.g., Tr. 612-15); he gave the man money on several occasions (a total of $13,000 ( see id. at 752)), indeed draining his bank account (and borrowing on his credit cards and pawning his jewelry) to do so ( see id. at 473-74). Douglas described the man as darker-skinned than himself, with dreadlocks or twists in his hair, but testified that he did not know the man's name. However, the man somehow knew, without any input from Douglas, that Douglas had formerly worked at Brink's. On April 20, Douglas agreed to drive the unnamed man to the site of the Yonkers ATMs on the morning of April 22 ( see Tr. 482-83), and on April 22 he did so with the unnamed man holding a gun to his neck. Douglas testified that it was this unnamed man who killed Moran. Douglas testified that after he drove the unnamed man to the Yonkers ATMs location, he drove around the parking lot, then parked for a while, and then exited the lot and parked on the street, adjacent to the lot. Douglas then got out of the SUV and sat on the back bumper while the unnamed man sat in the SUV and cased the location for purposes of a robbery. After Douglas saw Moran, whom he knew, approaching the building and sorting through a ring of keys, Douglas reentered the SUV; the unnamed man asked who Moran was, and Douglas informed him that Moran was an ATM technician. The unnamed man forced Douglas to reenter the parking lot. When Moran reappeared some 10 minutes later after leaving the building and approached his own car, the unnamed man exited the SUV, approached Moran, and jammed his gun into Moran's back. The man forced Moran to drive Moran's car from its spot in front of the ATM-area entrance to a corner of the lot and beckoned to Douglas to bring the SUV to the parking spot next to Moran's car; the man then put Moran into the back seat of the SUV. The unnamed man also climbed into the SUV's back seat, and he forced Moran to give him the keys, to identify those that unlocked the doors to the ATMs, and to disclose the alarm-disabling codes. The man then gave Douglas the keys and codes and told him to make sure the codes were correct. Douglas testified that before he went to check on the ATM codes, the unnamed man asked whether he had rope to tie up Moran; Douglas responded that he did not have rope but volunteered that he did have duct tape if that can help (Tr. 522), and he gave the man his duct tape. Douglas testified that he then left the SUV and walked around the corner of the building in which the ATMs were located but that he never entered or attempted to enter the building; after remaining out of sight of the unnamed man for some 10-15 minutes, he returned to the SUV, got into the driver's seat, and said the codes were good. The unnamed man was by then in the front passenger seat. When Douglas could not see Moran in the back seat, he got out and opened the back door and found Moran on the floor, bruised, gagged, and unresponsive. Douglas got into the back seat and tried to pull the duct tape from Moran's mouth but was unsuccessful. Douglas testified that he was crying and then the crying turned to rage. (Tr. 544.) He suddenly remembered that he had in the back of the SUV a shotgun ( see id. )  which he had begun to carry in his own vehicle because he was being threatened by the unnamed man and which he transferred to the rear area of the SUV on the eve of these events ( see id. at 488-92). Douglas testified that when he remembered the shotgun, he jumped up and ... reached for the shotgun case, unzipped the case, pulled the shotgun out and brought it forward, and then racked it, making a cha-chu sound. ( Id. at 544-45.) When he then pointed the shotgun at the unnamed man, the man jumped out of the car and fled on foot. Douglas testified that, after some deliberation, he pulled Moran's body out of the SUV, and it hit the ground with a very loud thud. Douglas testified that he then saw Vitetta in the parking lot, watching him. Douglas put Moran's body in the trunk of Moran's car. He then drove the SUV to Brooklyn, left it in a hospital parking garage, and fled to Florida.