Barre trial reveals an odd, casual robbery
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Robert Martino, 21, of Cabot, testifying on the stand Tuesday in Barre District Court, points out co-defendant Brian Rossell during Rossell’s trial for a February armed robbery in Woodbury. Rossell is accused in the robbery of allegedly using an axe to threaten a store clerk, all for the sum of 20 dollars. |
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By Thatcher Moats Times Argus Staff - Published: June 17, 2009
BARRE – A 22-year-old Cabot man accused of brandishing an ax as he robbed the Woodbury Village Store of a $20 bill went on trial Tuesday in Vermont District Court in Barre.
Brian Rossell faces a felony charge of assault and robbery with a weapon stemming from the February 2008 incident, which one witness described as a "peculiar" robbery.
For 25-year-old Angela Bolio, however, who was working behind the counter during the robbery, the event was not peculiar or odd; it was terrifying. She wept as she testified on Tuesday and said the robbery affects her to this day.
"It won't ever be the same for me," said the 25-year-old East Hardwick woman. "You want to trust people, but I can't."
Bolio was one of five witnesses to take the stand in the first day of the trial, including Rossell's co-defendant, 21-year-old Robert Martino. The trial is scheduled to continue today.
Martino, who spent 90 days in jail after pleading guilty last fall to assault and robbery and petty larceny, reconstructed his version of the story.
Martino and Rossell, friends since 2001, met up in Cabot around noon on Feb. 26, 2008, bought beer and decided to go to Johnson State College to pick up some girls, Martino testified.
Martino said he and Rossell both drank the beer and Rossell was driving. They drove along back roads through Marshfield and Calais, then into the Hardwick area, he said. Another driver cut them off in traffic, so they chased him but couldn't catch up, said Martino.
Martino told Rossell to pull over so they could rob a house. They peered into the house and saw dogs inside, so they didn't go in, according to Martino. But they did take an ax and a few chunks of wood from outside the house, Martino recalled.
When they got back into the car, Martino had another idea.
"I said, "Hey. Let's rob a store,'" Martino testified.
Rossell soon pulled the car up to the Woodbury Village Store, said Martino.
Bolio and 74-year-old Vera Batchelder were working at the store that day.
The two men went down an aisle and greeted Batchelder, Bolio recalled.
Batchelder soon entered the beer cooler, leaving Bolio alone by the register.
Rossell and Martino stood by the Little Debbie snack cakes rack near the counter and tried to figure out what to do, Martino said.
"You do it. 'No you do it,'" was how that conversation went, according to Martino.
Then the two men walked to the counter, and Rossell demanded $20, witnesses said.
Martino then reached over and pulled aside Rossell's coat, revealing the ax that Rossell was holding under his coat, Martino said.
"I said, 'Yeah, because we got this,'" Martino recalls saying as he reached over and pulled aside his friend's jacket.
Bolio said she saw the ax and handed over the $20 bill.
Rossell left, but Martino stayed in the store and told Bolio to give him the rest of the money.
Bolio refused.
Martino left after demanding the money a few more times, Bolio said, and she went to the window and got a partial license plate number and a description of the car the two men were driving.
Batchelder called 911.
Hardwick police officer Michael Gero soon saw a car drive right in front of him that matched the description of the robbers' car.
"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," said Gero.
When he pulled the car over, he saw the ax handle in plain sight, and soon arrested the men.
With several witnesses lined up against his client, Rossell's attorney Jeff Wilson is trying different strategies.
Wilson attacked Martino's credibility, pointing out that he lied in his initial sworn statement about the incident, which Martino admitted to yesterday.
Wilson also pointed out that Martino's plea agreement requires him to "testify against co-defendant" as part of his probation. Wilson noted that Martino's felony conviction of assault and robbery will be expunged from his record if he follows that and other conditions.
Then he linked the lies in Martino's first affidavit with his interest in having the felony wiped from his record.
"So you lie to make things go away," said Wilson. "Your felony's going to go away."
"I'm not lying now," Martino responded.
Wilson also is trying to use a "diminished capacity" defense, arguing that Rossell doesn't have the mental capacity to formulate the intent to instill fear of imminent bodily injuring in the victim. That intent is a key element of the assault and robbery crime, because Bolio was not physically assaulted.
To further that defense, Wilson called his one witness of the day, psychiatrist Jonathon Weker.
Weker did an evaluation and found that Rossell was "idiosyncratic, peculiar, unique, a little off."
Weker said Rossell engaged in thinking that was either consistent with, or close to, "magical thinking." Weker described magical thinking as believing that you can make something happen just by thinking about it.
Rossell also expressed a belief that he could reconcile the tension in the world that is caused by the presence of happy people and sad people, and that it was his "mission" to do that, said Weker.
But Weker stopped short of saying these characteristics would make Rossell unable to form the intent needed to have committed assault and robbery in this case.
"I don't believe Mr. Rossell's mental condition deprived him of the ability to form an intent," said Weker.
Judge Brian Grearson said he will rule on Wednesday morning whether the jury will be instructed to consider "diminished capacity" as a factor in their deliberations.
All the evidence in the case has been presented and the two sides are expected to make their closing arguments today.
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