THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996 TAG: 9610250529
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 82 lines
For at least a month last fall, Robert P. Garnett talked about how he was so depressed over his job as a Norfolk city accountant and the fire that had destroyed his house that he was contemplating suicide or some other drastic act, such as robbing a bank.
He told his wife and his stepdaughter about his plans. Finally, when his depression grew worse, he told his mental health therapist and asked that he be hospitalized.
The therapist refused, claiming that hospitalization was not necessary. So on Oct. 14, 1995, Garnett followed through on one of his threats.
He rented a car, grabbed a recently purchased gun and drove to Central Fidelity Bank on Indian River Road, where he walked out with almost $30,000 cash without injuring anyone.
Then Garnett pulled his coup de grace. An hour after the robbery, he walked into police headquarters and turned himself in.
Garnett went immediately to jail, but when his case came to court this week, he pleaded not guilty. Garnett claimed that his depression and an obsessive/compulsive disorder created an impulse within his personality that he could not control.
Garnett said he didn't want the money. He said that he was only obsessed with ending his misery and that he could not find the courage to kill himself.
It was an insanity defense with a twist, but on Thursday a Circuit Court jury rejected Garnett's explanation for his crimes.
The 49-year-old accountant was found guilty of three charges: robbery, entering a bank with the intent of committing larceny, and a weapons violation. The jury recommended a sentence of 28 years in prison.
Despite the jury's verdict, Garnett's family says he was insane at the time of the offense.
``It's just one of those cases where somebody cracked,'' said Garnett's stepdaughter, Pamela Parsons, in an interview just before the verdict. ``A regular person cracked, in a big way.''
In a 15-year career with the city, Garnett handled the accounting for such high-profile city projects as Scope, the Harrison Opera House and Chrysler Hall.
But as the city began shrinking its accounting office, Parsons said, Garnett felt he was being pressured to do the work of two people. She said he wasn't cut out for such high-pressure work.
Garnett asked to be transferred from the Scope account, said his wife, Marilyn Garnett. But he felt he was never given a definitive answer about what his future job with the city would be, she said.
When he was instructed to begin training his replacement, Garnett became convinced that he was going to be fired, she said. ``Basically he loved his job, but it became hell,'' she said.
At about the same time, in April 1995, Garnett's problems multiplied when a fire destroyed his house. ``It happened on the same day that he told his employer that he had to change his job,'' said Garnett's attorney, Chris Christie.
David Keenan, a clinical psychologist, testified that Garnett developed both depression and an obsessive/compulsive illness. Despite his illnesses, Keenan said, Garnett was always able to tell right from wrong.
``His condition at the time of the offenses did not meet the criteria of insanity,'' Keenan testified. ``He was impaired, but not so impaired to make him unable to resist.''
The detailed planning that Garnett put into his crime proved that, prosecutor Janee Joslin said.
On the day of the robbery, Garnett took steps to make sure his actions would not result in injury. He removed the first two bullets in his the bank would be light.
Garnett also chose the bank because it was in Virginia Beach, the city that he thought had the best jail.
When Garnett walked into the police headquarters an hour after the robbery, he immediately told an officer that he had information about the bank robbery on Indian River Road. When he was told to take a seat, Garnett hesitated momentarily, then went back up to the officer.
``He told her `I just thought I would let you know that I'm the bank robber,' '' Parsons said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Robert P. Garnett said depression over his job and the loss of his
house in a fire drove him to crime.
KEYWORDS: ROBBERIES BANK ARREST by CNB