Opinion ID: 1225502
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The prosecution's case: The robbery and attempted murder of Shawn May.

Text: On November 30, 1987, Shawn May, then 18, was working alone as a sales clerk at the Video Mart in Sacramento. Around midafternoon, defendant entered and began looking through the videotape rentals. As May walked out from behind the front counter, she noticed a dollar bill lying on the floor. She picked it up, returned behind the counter to the cash register, and asked defendant if the bill belonged to him. Told that it did not, May placed the money in the store's register, remarking that it would save her from being short at the end of the day. Defendant then said, Well, it's going to be a lot shorter than you think, and grabbed May by the neck from behind. Holding the blade of a small knife to her throat with one hand, he reached into the cash register with the other and removed about $100 in cash. Defendant then told May to lock the front door to the store. After getting her keys, May did so, turning over the OPEN sign so that it read CLOSED to passersby. Defendant then demanded that May tell him where more money was hidden. The telephone rang; defendant answered it. Video store, he said. The store was busy, he told the caller; he had to go. Hanging up the telephone, defendant again demanded to know where additional money was kept. May led him to a back room and showed him $100 in bills in a metal file cabinet which he pocketed. By now, customers had begun to gather outside the locked entrance to the Video Mart. Placing May on a chair in the back room, defendant grabbed a nearby roll of duct tape, bound her hands and feet with it and placed tape over her eyes and mouth. May told defendant he could leave by the back door. Defendant rummaged around, May testified at trial, before suddenly ripping the tape from her eyes, mouth and arms. He needed the key in the cash register, he told her. Walking May to the front counter by holding onto her shirt, kneeling down so that he could not be seen by the customers waiting outside, defendant directed May to take the key and give it to him. She did so, and the two returned to the back room. Defendant said little as he taped May to the chair, and retaped her eyes. He told her to be quiet, all he wanted was the money. Defendant took some cash and May's automated teller machine card from her purse. After asking for her personal identification number (May made up one), he again fell silent. May could still see defendant's feet through the gaps in the tape, however, and after a few moments said, I know you're still here. She felt a blow to her head, followed by something sharp striking the side of her neck. Defendant had picked up a hammer lying nearby and struck May, then stabbed her in the neck. After defendant left by the back door, May was able to remove the loose tape from her hands and feet and, bloodied, open the store entrance to the waiting customers who came to her aid.