Bank robber who lost job wins court's sympathy

[Buttercup]

Bank robber who lost job wins court's sympathy

Prosecutor blames 'poor economic climate'

May 1, 2007

BY L.L. BRASIER

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

An unemployed auto engineer who walked into a Troy bank last summer with a loaded handgun and demanded money will be free later this month after prosecutors – in a rare move that left the trial judge perplexed — lobbied for his early release, saying he was a victim of tough economic times.

“When I read this case, it cried out for a certain sense of justice,” Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said at a news conference today in which he also sought help from the public to find a job and housing for Larry Lawson, 61.

Lawson, who had been a mechanical engineer, but had been laid off since 2005, “got caught up in the poor economic climate,” when he walked into the LaSalle Bank on Big Beaver Road July 13 and handed the teller a note demanding money and saying he had a gun.

With more than $4,000 cash, he was leaving the bank when he pretended to faint – a move he would later tell police would guarantee him a jail cell and three meals a day. He was arrested within minutes.

Prosecutors charged him with bank robbery, armed robbery and a felony firearm count, and he faced at least 12 years in prison. But under a plea bargain reached between Gorcyca’s office and defense attorney Todd Kaluzny, he pleaded guilty to the bank robbery, and the other two charges were dropped.

Today, at the urging of the prosecutor's office, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Nanci Grant agreed to sentence him to a year in the county jail. Since he has already been in the jail more than eight months, and has earned credit for good behavior, he is expected to be released within two weeks.

Grant, who also placed Lawson on five years probation, and ordered that he perform 500 hours of community service and pay court costs, said she was “baffled” by the prosecutor’s interest in the case, and that Lawson resembled many of those who appear before her and end up with long prison sentences – broke and desperate enough to commit crimes.

“I understand you regret what you did,” she told Lawson. “But I hear that every Tuesday morning (during her criminal call).”

Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.

[countybear]

“When I read this case, it cried out for a certain sense of justice,” Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said at a news conference today in which he also sought help from the public to find a job and housing for Larry Lawson, 61.

In my world, those who 'cry out for justice' are those who work like slaves to make ends meet, and don't hold others at gunpoint when times get rough.

Mr. Gorcyca... You are the weakest link...

[Buttercup]

In my world, those who 'cry out for justice' are those who work like slaves to make ends meet, and don't hold others at gunpoint when times get rough.

Mr. Gorcyca... You are the weakest link...

Exactly, and it makes me so angry that due to Gorcyca's public pleas for this jerk, someone will inevitably step up and offer the criminal a job and a place to live. It's a slap in the face to those who are out there doing the best they can to make ends meet without breaking the law or relying on public assistance.

[Morning Coffee]

Oh great , i can see this now as a precedent case law set for other morons to do and try to get away with it .