By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The second day of Jacob Laurence’s aggravated robbery trial didn’t last very long. With the defense set to call five witnesses for the day, Laurence and his attorney Adam Stone instead chose to forgo the witnesses and rest the case.
In closing arguments, Crawford County assistant prosecuting attorney Ryan Hoovler argued the evidence had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Laurence was guilty of aggravated robbery, citing Laurence fled after a theft offense and caused serious physical harm to Bucyrus Police Chief Dave Koepke on Nov. 1, 2013.
Hoovler stated that the theft offense was proven by the manager of CVS Pharmacy, Gordon Sessions Jr., who, from his office, witnessed Laurence placing two Red Bull energy drinks and a beef jerky in his pocket. Two minutes after placing the items in his pocket, Hoovler said, Sessions approached Laurence and asked for his property back. Laurence said he didn’t have it and left, running out the door.
“The defendant passed all points of sale,” noted Hoovler.
The theft incident was caught on video surveillance.
After fleeing the theft offense, Hoovler stated that Laurence caught sight of Koepke as the police chief made his way on foot from the police department to CVS. Laurence kept running south toward Koepke.
“The defendant never changed direction and never slowed down,” Hoovler said. “He knew Chief Koepke was going to arrest him.”
Hoovler said that evidence shows serious physical harm done to Koepke during his collision with Laurence. Witness testimony corroborates that Koepke was unconscious for a brief period of time, unable to move or talk, confused, and later suffered acute pain from the collision.
Stone noted that his client did commit the underlying theft offense but suggested there was reasonable doubt in the case that Laurence directly caused the serious physical harm to Koepke. He was attempting to show reasonable doubt that Laurence had seen Koepke approaching him.
At the time Laurence had been wearing a hat, Stone said, mimicking a brim pulled low over his eyes. “You can see his nose,” Stone said, tapping his own nose for effect, “but you can’t see his eyes.”
Stone also argued in his closing statements that to inflict physical harm upon someone, it must be the direct action of one person upon another. Due to the angle of impact, which had the tackle sending the duo eastward rather than backward, Stone said Koepke “tackled my client into the wall” thus sustaining the injuries.
“The evidence shows that in fact there is a question. Was the chief standing in front of the defendant so the defendant could see him? Or was he coming in at an angle of pursuit?” asked Stone.
“Essentially my client was fleeing, running away,” Stone said. “The harm (sustained by Koepke) is reasonably foreseeable for those who put on the uniform.”
“That intention (to steal) and those actions caused Chief Koepke to get hurt,” Hoovler argued in rebuttal.
After the closing arguments ended around 9:30 a.m., visiting Judge Dale Crawford retired to an office to review the exhibits submitted during the bench trial.
Crawford returned less than an hour later and found that the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Laurence did knowingly inflict serious physical harm on Koepke during the robbery. He found Laurence to be guilty to first degree aggravated robbery.
“It makes no difference if the defendant intended to harm Chief Koepke,” Crawford said. “A person (who is fleeing an illegal offense) is aware his conduct could cause physical harm to the officer involved.”
Crawford added that though the defense took the position that the harm sustained by Koepke wasn’t serious, the court found that the harm – which included permanent disfigurement and temporary incapacitation – was serious. He further concluded that the harm was caused by the defendant.
Judge Crawford ordered a pre-sentence investigation and revoked Laurence’s bond. A sentencing hearing has been set for 10 o’clock in the morning on Oct. 3. The sentence carries a maximum of 10 years in prison as a result of the first degree felony conviction.
Crawford County prosecutor Matt Crall was very pleased with the verdict.
“We feel given the evidence, it was very appropriate,” Crall said. “You can’t have people in a civilized society who steal things and then run out of a store and tackle someone – or run into them or however that event happens. When you flee a theft you should be held responsible for anything that happens afterwards. But the court did find that he did that knowingly and that’s one of the highest levels of culpability. From a legal standpoint that was very significant.”
The Bucyrus Chief of Police is looking forward to everything getting back to normal.
“It’s just a relief to have the case settled so that life can continue because it takes a lot of time for trial preparation, which takes away from what’s going on with the police department,” Koepke said after the trial.
“The first thing that came to mind – and I said it at City Council long ago after it happened – was it wasn’t me personally that was attacked, it was the uniform and the uniform represents the entire community,” Koepke said. “It was an attack on the community.”
Koepke said that during the trial the words came up that it was “reasonably foreseeable” when someone puts on a uniform and goes to work they might get hurt.
“The way that strikes me is that everybody in our community and all the country that goes to work in a retail establishment, goes to work with no reasonable foreseeable expectations that they will be hurt,” said Koepke. “Yet, more than 80,000 people a year go to work in retail establishments that suffered non-fatal injuries from theft offenses and robberies and so forth.”
The police chief pointed to Sessions, the CVS manager, and Katina Shell, owner of Morning Glory Bakery, as victims of the crime for having to witness the incident.
“It’s not a reasonable foreseeable event when you go to work at a donut shop or a convenience store that you might get harmed,” Koepke said, “and it’s not fair to all the good people in our community and all over the country that go to work to serve people that randomly bad things can happen. We should expect better from our country.”