Opinion ID: 204059
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence Introduced at Trial

Text: At trial, the government introduced testimony from fifteen witnesses, including Dedra Scott, Villar's girlfriend and co-conspirator, and Shauna Harrington, Gagnon's girlfriend. [1] Neither of the bank tellers who testified could positively identify the Appellant as one of the men who robbed the bank. Based on this evidence, particularly the testimony of Dedra Scott and Shauna Harrington, the jury could reasonably find the following facts. On April 18, 2006, a teller at St. Mary's bank in Hudson, New Hampshire, was returning from her lunch break when a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a ski mask jumped over the nearby chain link fence, stuck something against her side, and told her to get inside the bank. The man had a Hispanic accent. He told the teller to remain quiet and no one would get hurt. Eventually, the teller saw that the man was holding a gun. Once inside the bank, the teller saw that her assailant was not alone. Another man, who was white, was asking tellers to place money inside a bag. The Hispanic robber holding the gun pointed it at another teller who was hiding underneath her desk and told her to stand in the middle of the bank lobby. Later, he told the two tellers to get down on their knees before both men fled the bank. The two men stole a total of $17,429. According to Shauna Harrington's testimony, planning for the robbery began a few days prior to April 18, 2006. While they were getting high on drugs, Villar suggested to Scott, Gagnon, and Harrington that they all rob a bank. The four shared an apartment at the time in Nashua, New Hampshire. According to Harrington, Scott and Gagnon seemed interested in the idea. In addition, two or three days before the robbery, Villar showed Harrington two BB guns: one black and the other silver and black. Responding to Villar's inquiry, Harrington told him that the black one looked more realistic. On the morning of the robbery, one of Dedra Scott's friends asked her to go to Patrick Kagwa's home because he was suffering from a prolonged diabetic seizure. When she found Kagwa unconscious and comatose, she called 911. Scott then followed the ambulance in Kagwa's light blue minivan. After learning that Kagwa had suffered permanent brain damage and would not wake up, Scott left the hospital and returned to the apartment she shared with Villar, Gagnon, and Harrington. At that time, Villar asked Scott to use Kagwa's minivan to drive him to Villar's brother's house. When they drove by St. Mary's Bank, Villar asked Scott to turn around and pick Gagnon up from the apartment. After they had done so, the three returned to the bank, where Villar told Scott to drive around the building to verify whether it had a second exit. Villar instructed Scott where to turn, and then he and Gagnon exited the vehicle. Scott eventually picked Gagnon and Villar up near a stop sign a few blocks away from the bank. As they drove away, Scott saw a police cruiser with its lights on driving in the opposite direction. When they stopped at a gas station, Gagnon threw a bag of money on the front seat. Villar opened the bag and showed Scott all of the money. Scott became upset because the police knew that she had Kagwa's minivan. She told Gagnon and Villar that she would drop them off in Lowell, Massachusetts, but Villar burned her with a cigarette, telling her that she was not going anywhere. Once they arrived at Villar's brother's home, they all counted the stolen money. Villar told Scott that she would receive $3,000. When they returned to their shared apartment, Scott told Harrington, We just robbed an F-ing bank. Villar then threw Harrington a backpack containing thousands of dollars. Gagnon gave her $1,000, which Harrington claimed she immediately returned to him. Later, Villar told Harrington that during the robbery, he had done all of the talking and that he had carried a gun. That night, a few hours after the robbery was committed, Villar, Scott, Gagnon, and Harrington went to a hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire. While there, they counted the money again, and Gagnon and Villar each took $7,000. They spent the evening at the hotel getting high. Police recovered the ski mask and the weapon used during the robbery in a wooded area near St. Mary's Bank. Eyewitnesses Rino Giordano and Melissa Nichols separately observed two men acting suspiciously around the time of the robbery in the vicinity of St. Mary's Bank. They both described one of the subjects as Hispanic and as being shorter than his companion. A third eyewitness, Michael Febonio, saw two men acting suspiciously and described one as having darker skin than the other. Nichols also described the getaway vehicle as a light blue minivan. The defense attacked the credibility of two of the government's key witnesses, Shauna Harrington and Dedra Scott, based on their drug use, criminal histories, prior lies and inconsistent statements. [2] In addition, Dedra Scott was impeached as a cooperating witness. Appellant pointed out the government's lack of physical evidence, such as fingerprints or DNA, implicating him in the robbery. Finally, defense counsel argued that the testimony of one bank teller, along with a surveillance photograph taken during the robbery, indicated that the Hispanic robber was taller than Mr. Gagnon. Appellant noted that Villar is, in fact, shorter than Gagnon. Appellant also introduced alibi witnesses.