A 26-year-old Lawrence man was sentenced Friday to more than nine years in prison for robbing the same Lawrence bank twice in 2011.
Elliott Reid Werner previously pleaded guilty to robbing Central National Bank, 603 W. Ninth St., on July 14 and Nov. 30, 2011.
Friday's sentencing hearing included a complicated legal issue. Werner's attorney, Michael Clarke, filed a motion related to Werner's criminal history score that would be used in the sentencing. Because prosecutors filed separate cases for the robberies, the first robbery would be taken into account when Werner was sentenced for the second robbery.
Douglas County District Judge Michael Malone denied the motion, meaning that one of the sentences would factor into Werner's criminal history score for sentencing purposes. For the first conviction, Werner was sentenced to 32 months.
And the sentence for the second case was for 114 months, the minimum Malone could give under sentencing guidelines. The sentences will run concurrently.
Friday's hearing included testimony and comments from several of Werner's family, who described Werner's battle with depression and other life struggles.
Several bank employees also spoke at the hearing, describing how the events have traumatized their lives.
Werner apologized to the victims.
"I know this has been hard on a lot of people," he said. "I hurt them. I hurt their families."
Comments
srj 5 months ago
It's just crazy to think he got away free the first robbery.
lobodons 5 months ago
1 year for robberies and 8 years for stupidity.
Nonsense 5 months ago
So the The DA can get big sentences.
rogerh12 5 months ago
Since when is robbing a bank on worth 9 years in jail? Sounds kind of minimal to me, he will probably be out in 4 years anyway, then do it again.
Ron Holzwarth 5 months ago
Do you think he will rob the same bank again?
Ron Holzwarth 5 months ago
I think he's trying to strike a balance between crime deterrence and the cost of incarceration.
deec 5 months ago
I guess he forgot to get his MBA first.
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20121106/discuss/711069995/
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/federal-prosecutors-sue-bank-of-america-over-mortgage-program/
cheeseburger 5 months ago
'And the sentence for the second case was for 114 months, the minimum Malone could give under sentencing guidelines.'
Always the minimums in Douglas County!
sue_lou77 5 months ago
Almost shocking he didn't get probation.
sue_lou77 5 months ago
I thought robbing a bank falls under the Federal Law. Why was he only charged at the state level??
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