THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 16, 1996 TAG: 9607160256
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 61 lines
A jury began deliberating on Monday whether the teenager who shot and killed a delivery driver during an attempted robbery last year outside a Hampton Boulevard convenience store should be found guilty of capital murder.
Royale Stewart, 18, could be sentenced to death if convicted. He is charged in the death of 29-year-old Kevin Gallegos, who was shot Feb. 10, 1995, outside a 7-Eleven store.
Stewart, who was 16 at the time, has admitted to the shooting. But he testified last week that he was trying to collect a drug debt from Gallegos when the two began to struggle as Gallegos was talking on a telephone outside the store. Stewart said his semi-automatic weapon accidentally fired and struck Gallegos in the chest.
If the 12-member jury believes Stewart, he will likely be convicted of first-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter. If that happens, Stewart will not face the death penalty, but instead will be sentenced by Judge John E. Clarkson because Stewart was a juvenile at the time of the offense.
Testimony in the trial, which is in its second week, was completed on Monday.
An eyewitness on Monday contradicted Stewart's story. David Floyd testified he was using a telephone at the 7-Eleven when Gallegos was killed.
Floyd said he saw Gallegos talking on a telephone at the other end of the building when a black male in a hooded sweatshirt walked up to Gallegos from behind the building.
Floyd said he glanced away momentarily and then heard a sound he thought was a vehicle backfiring. It turned out to be the gunshot that killed Gallegos.
When asked if he saw a fight or altercation between the two men before the gun fired, Floyd said, ``No, I didn't.''
Prosecutors also presented an inmate who was incarcerated at the Norfolk City Jail with Stewart. Joseph L. Francis testified he had several discussions with Stewart about Gallegos' death.
Francis said Stewart told him that Gallegos was a robbery target. Stewart told him he and his friends were an armed-robbery gang.
``His indication was that this is what they do all over town,'' Francis testified. ``Him and his boys were stick-up guys.''
Francis said that Stewart never mentioned a drug deal when the two talked about Gallegos' death.
Several Norfolk police officers testified during the trial that Stewart admitted during questioning on Feb. 24, 1995, that he and two other men - Ocie Wilson and Gerald Crandle - spotted Gallegos at the 7-Eleven and schemed to rob him. Stewart allegedly told police that he shot Gallegos when the delivery driver rushed him.
In closing arguments, Prosecutor Lisa McKeel said Stewart's drug-deal story was only a ploy created to keep him from facing a possible death sentence. McKeel said the truth is that Gallegos was the innocent victim of a botched robbery.
``That is what this case is all about,'' McKeel said. ``It's one of the oldest reasons known to mankind to kill another - greed.''
The jury will resume deliberations today.
KEYWORDS: MURDER TRIAL SHOOTING by CNB