Friday, January 07, 2000
Bank robbery defendant to pursue deal, lawyer says
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — As the bank robbery case against Thomas Burroughs was sent to a grand jury Thursday, the Kettering widower's lawyer said he's ready to negotiate with prosecutors.
“We'll be working out a deal,” attorney Carl Lewis said after the preliminary hearing in Warren County Court.
Even an hour before Thursday's hearing, prosecutors were offering a plea bargain that could put Mr. Burroughs in prison for about six years.
That's the sticking point, Mr. Lewis said.
“The issue is the number of years he'll get. We can't have him plead to something and get the same amount of time that he would if he went to trial and was convicted,” he said.
Mr. Burroughs is charged with robbery, grand theft, fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest and child endangering.
Recently widowed
Mr. Burroughs had his 3-year-old daughter strapped into a car seat in the back of his late-model Buick when police said he robbed the Lebanon Citizens National Bank in Springboro Dec. 28.
His mother told The Enquirer last week she thought the recent death of her son's wife, a mound of medical bills left from her care and the pressures of raising a child alone might have contributed to his arrest.
Thursday, the 29-year-old computer technician sat silently while he listened to a bank teller and police officer testify.
A teller testified that a black man with a white patch over his eye entered the bank on West Central Avenue that afternoon holding a popcorn tin and demanded money. She complied, handing over more than $5,000. The suspect put the money in the tin and left.
The woman did not identify Mr. Burroughs as the robber during Thursday's hearing.
Officer recounts chase
However, Springboro Officer Dan Bentley pointed to Mr. Burroughs as the man who led police on a high-speed chase, while throwing cash and a tin out of his car window.
Officer Bentley said money strapped in bank wrappers with the bank's logo was found inside the car after the pursuit ended when Mr. Burroughs crashed into a van on Interstate 675 in Beavercreek, a suburb of Dayton.
Despite Mr. Lewis' argument that witnesses failed to identify Mr. Burroughs as the robber, Judge James Heath said there was enough evidence to bind the case over to a grand jury for possible indictment.
Judge Heath also denied Mr. Lewis' plea to lower Mr. Burroughs' $200,000 bond. Even though the judge had agreed to allow Mr. Burroughs' release if he posted 10 percent of it, Mr. Lewis said his client's family is unable to raise the cash.
He said Mr. Burroughs' mother, who has temporary custody of the 3-year-old girl, has refused to get involved in her son's case or help free him on bond.
“Everyone is concerned about the baby, basically. Unfortunately, she has said "my son has to deal with this situation,'” Mr. Lewis said. “He's scared and he's extremely worried about his daughter.”
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