Victim doesn't testify; Covington man pleads to lesser offense

By Brandon Garcia
Published on Saturday, September 15, 2007 10:38 AM CDT

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St. Tammany News

A Covington man pleaded guilty to second-degree battery and was sentenced to probation Tuesday after the man he allegedly robbed at gunpoint refused to testify.

Devin Ankrum, 18, was sentenced to five years of probation by Judge William Knight. Ankrum was also sentenced to three years in prison, suspended.

The outcome highlighted the necessity of a victim's testimony and the result of failing to get it. The victim was scheduled to testify Tuesday and was at state district court in Covington, but backed out at the last minute, Rick Wood, spokesman for the District Attorney's office, said.

Wood said it is rare for a victim to refuse to testify in the 22nd Judicial District Court and even more so to refuse at the last minute. On Tuesday, t he victim's testimony was "vital to proving the case," Wood said.

Without the victim's testimony, physical evidence could only prove battery, a charge substantially lesser than armed robbery. An armed robbery conviction carries a sentence of up to 99 years in prison.

Wood said it is generally rare for St. Tammany or Washington parish victim to refuse to testify, except in domestic violence cases, where it is common. The victim "gave a report, pointed out the people who beat him and robbed him and on the day of court he was unwilling to testify. That doesn't happen very often," Wood said.

Wood said if the District Attorney's office had known the victim would not testify, it would probably charged Ankrum with a lesser offense.

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Comments

6 comment(s)

Anjelina wrote on Jul 12, 2008 5:36 AM:

" http://bbs.flashget.com/en/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=12104 "

Cody Chenevert wrote on Jul 10, 2008 11:49 PM:

" be happy to drive and drop off my recyclables in Slidell. The environment is worth saving and I know our fellow St. Tammany residence feel the same way. "

Cody Chenevert wrote on Jul 10, 2008 11:48 PM:

" It is a shame that I have to drive all the way from Slidell to Baton Rouge just to do my part in saving our environment. Our relatives In Los Angeles get a pretty penny for their recyclables enough to be exact that would be able to pay my car note. I can’t even imagine getting paid to recycle, considering we don’t even have recycling in the first place. So this article is a relief, and I hope this company follows through with their plan. All I am asking is for a public recycling drop-off location, because I will "

Cody Chenevert wrote on Jul 10, 2008 11:47 PM:

" our older house which was 1/3 the size as our newly constructed home, and by this time next year I will be looking at solar panels on our roof. So I know firsthand going green is worth every penny. We did the hard part now all we need to do is recycle all of those plastic bottles in the garage along with the paper and glass that is stacking up. I refuse to throw it away, when we visit relatives in Baton Rouge I take all of my recyclables with us and drop it in there (Coastal) sized recycle bin. "

Cody Chenevert wrote on Jul 10, 2008 11:46 PM:

" St. Tammany is falling behind; other parishes in Louisiana have already implemented recycling on a major scale, the Baton Rouge area for intense. I see it every day “go green recycle” I know I have gone as green as I can for the time being but I have hit a MAJOR road block, I can’t recycle which is the basic “go green” plow along with changing to compact florescent light bulbs. Our entire house has CFL light bulbs along with Foam insulation, and all energy star appliances and let me tell you our electric bill is about $50 cheaper than "

vicki benitez wrote on Jun 10, 2008 10:32 PM:

" I believe we could start recycling with containers located in strategic places that people could drop off their recyclable items. This is something that we have to start doing asap. Drop offs would elimnate their driving around to too many homes problem. If this company is not interested, we need to get someone who is!!! "

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