Illinois man convicted on 2 of 3 counts in parking lot robbery case
Oct. 21—Some question concerning whether Khamarion Smith was brandishing a gun in a robbery a year ago in the parking lot of Northpark Mall kept jurors from finding him guilty Wednesday on all three counts he was facing.
A jury of five women and seven men deliberated a little less than two hours at the conclusion of a two-day trial in Jasper County Circuit Court before returning verdicts finding Smith guilty of first-degree robbery and resisting arrest but acquitting him of armed criminal action.
Jurors recommended in the ensuing punishment phase of the trial that the 20-year-old man from Danville, Illinois, should serve a prison term of 10 years for the robbery and two months in jail for resisting arrest. Trial Judge Dean Dankelson set a formal sentencing hearing for Dec. 13.
Smith is the first of two adult co-defendants to be tried in the case. Terrence Tinsley Jr., 25, of Joplin, has yet to be tried. A third suspect in the robbery, a 16-year-old male, was referred to juvenile authorities after the robbery of Marie Aparicio and Terrel Oatts in the parking lot outside the Dunham's Sports store at the mall in Joplin.
Smith took the witness stand Wednesday in his own defense, telling jurors that he was catching a ride to the bus station from his cousin and her boyfriend when she arranged to make a marijuana buy from people they were to meet in the mall parking lot. He said she told him she was going to buy some THC cartridges from whomever they were meeting.
Smith said his cousin and her boyfriend initially went over to the vehicle that Aparicio and Oatts were in and that an argument ensued.
"I got out of the car and asked them what was going on," he testified.
He said Oatts, who was out of their vehicle at that point, kept saying that the others who were with Smith had his "stuff" and "something about the money being fake."
"Did you have a gun on you that day?" his attorney, Joseph Collier, asked him.
"No, I did not," Smith said.
The defendant said he, his cousin, her boyfriend and the male juvenile who was with them started to leave and Oatts told them: "If you don't give me my stuff, I'm going to call police." He said they didn't actually think Oatts would because he was illegally selling them a medical marijuana product.
Aparicio and Oatts had testified Tuesday that they went to the mall to do some Christmas shopping and did not know any of the four people who pulled up in the other vehicle.
Aparicio denied that any marijuana deal had been arranged or took place. Oatts acknowledged that he has an Oklahoma medical marijuana card but made no claim that he had been robbed of any medical marijuana product. Aparicio claimed to have been robbed only of her wallet, which was later found by a taxi driver and returned to her with all its contents still in it.
Collier claimed during closing arguments that two THC cartridges recovered by police after the suspects crashed their car into a tree minutes later off Zora Street at Myrtle Avenue, with both the driver, Tinsley, and Smith rolling out of the vehicle before it struck the tree, were evidence of medical marijuana sale that turned sour.
Oatts, however, had testified Tuesday that he did not personally use vape cartridges but preferred to buy gummy products with his medical marijuana card.
Smith claimed he fell asleep in the car as they left the mall and was not even aware that a police car was pursuing them until their car made a sharp turn onto Zora Street off Range Line Road, and he woke up. He said he jumped from the car and fled when the driver, Tinsley, jumped out because he did not know what was going on and was scared.
Assistant Prosecutor Taylor Haas cross-examined Smith about his testimony's contradictions of statements he made to Detective John Watkins after his arrest.
The defense managed to instill doubt among jurors regarding whether Smith was armed. Oatts testified that he saw guns in the hands of Tinsley and the juvenile but acknowledged that he did not recall seeing Smith with a gun.
Aparicio, on the other hand, claimed all three males had guns, and Haas pointed out in closing arguments that in the course of being robbed it was not surprising that Oatts might not have noticed a gun in Smith's hand as well. He said it did not really matter because Smith was still guilty under the law of assisting in an armed robbery by pushing Oatts up against the vehicle and going through his front pockets as Oatts had testified that Smith did.
Watkins had testified Tuesday that Smith told him that he was asleep the whole time and never got out of the car at the mall. He said he gave Smith several opportunities to tell him what had happened at the mall and he stuck to the claim he was asleep.
Haas asked him on cross-examination if he hadn't also told Watkins that they were on their way to do some laundry and not headed for the bus station, but Smith denied having told the detective that.
Haas told jurors police found no evidence that a drug deal had been arranged between the suspects and the victims. If it were so, he asked, "why on earth would Terrel call 911" to report the robbery? He argued that there was further proof of the defendant's guilt in the flight of the perpetrators and the fact that police found him hiding in the laundry room of a house near the place where their vehicle crashed.
