MAN ACCUSED OF AIDING JEWEL ROBBERY ACQUITTED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 17, 1992                   TAG: 9201170366
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Medium
MAN ACCUSED OF AIDING JEWEL ROBBERY ACQUITTED
A circuit court jury on Thursday acquitted a Martinsville man charged with driving the getaway vehicle during an August 1990 armed robbery of a Franklin County jewelry store.
Gerald Gallant, who is serving time in prison on unrelated theft charges, testified that he unwittingly participated in the jewelry store heist by agreeing to drive two men to Rocky Mount for $20.
Gallant testified that he did not know the men intended to rob Stanley Jewelers and that he was forced at gunpoint to drive them away from the scene in his pickup truck.
The 12-member jury deliberated for more than two hours before returning the verdict.
Gallant was tried for the same offense in November, but a jury could not agree upon a verdict.
On Aug. 18, 1990, two armed gunmen made off with $11,000 worth of rings, watches and necklaces and drove away in a red pickup truck. The vehicle crashed a few minutes later after a brief chase with a sheriff's deputy along U.S. 220.
William Alexander Staples was paralyzed from the neck down and is now living in a Tidewater nursing home. The other suspect, Anthony M. "Stinky" Wright, was sentenced to 25 years in prison under a plea agreement.
In his closing argument, Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood sought to highlight apparent inconsistencies in Gallant's testimony.
Hapgood singled out Gallant's assertion that he did not know Wright or Staples before the day of the robbery. Yet, Wright had testified that he and Gallant had been in Rocky Mount on a previous occasion to check out the jewelry store, Hapgood said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB