Man convicted 2nd time in case of Liberty robbery

A court of appeals had sent the case back to the lower court for retrial.

By TIM YOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — A Trumbull County prosecutor said Anthony Smith can’t be too bright, or alcohol influenced his thinking, when he robbed a BP station at a busy Liberty Township intersection near a police checkpoint.

Smith, 47, of Youngstown, was convicted Thursday for the second time in two years of aggravated robbery, with a three-year gun specification; and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

A jury of six men and six women deliberated Thursday afternoon during his trial in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Logan scheduled sentencing for Feb. 6, after hearing evidence that Smith has a police record in Mahoning County, and is a repeat offender.

Smith was originally sentenced in 2005 to 21 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated robbery and related charges. He has served two years of the sentence.

However, the 11th District Court of Appeals sent the case back for retrial because Judge Logan hadn’t instructed the earlier jury that it could consider the lesser included offense of robbery.

The get-away driver, Lawrence J. Johnson, pleaded guilty to complicity to aggravated robbery and was sentenced in 2005 to 10 years in prison.

During closing arguments Thursday, Chris Becker, an assistant county prosecutor, told the jury that Smith walked into the BP on Sept. 11, 2004, and pulled a 9mm pistol. An employee turned over $115 before Smith fled, jumped into the back seat of the getaway car Johnson was driving, and fled.

Because a checkpoint was so near, Liberty police Patrol Officer Pete DeAngelo saw Smith jump into the back seat of the car while carrying a gun. It resulted in a police chase that ended on Benita Avenue on Youngstown’s north end. A 9mm pistol was found nearby, Becker told the jury, and $115 was found on him.

Johnson and Smith had been stopped at the checkpoint themselves and it was determined that neither man had a driver’s license and Smith had been drinking, Becker said.

The prosecutor said that either Smith was “dumb” for pulling off the robbery or he “didn’t make very good choices” because he had been drinking.

Defense attorney Michael Partlow of Cleveland argued that the BP employee who was robbed misidentified Smith as the robber and gave two versions of what happened.

Partlow also told the jury that Smith had a gun, but it was in Mahoning County where he was arrested, thus Trumbull County doesn’t have jurisdiction to prosecute on the gun possession charge.

Becker countered that Smith was seen with the gun at the BP by the employee and DeAngelo.

If Smith had been convicted of robbery, he would have had two years shaved off his sentenced and two years for the gun specification.

yovich@vindy.com