Judge sentences robber to 30 years in prison
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?I?ll see you in hell,? an angry Robert Lee Yates, 39, shouted at Judge Bart Stanley during his recent sentencing hearing, prompting the judge to have him immediately removed from the courtroom.
Yates? outburst came moments after the judge gave him the maximum sentence for his robbery last year of Mark?s Market located on the corner of Cascade Avenue and Bybee Branch Road. Yates was convicted following a recent jury trial on the charge of aggravated robbery, with jurors taking less than an hour to determine his fate. His extensive sentence comes for his long criminal record which reportedly included one prior arrest for robbery.
Prosecutors proved it was Yates who slashed Mark?s Market co-owner Nancy Patel on the hand when he robbed her cash register of around $700 last September. The store has since changed ownership.
Patel, during her time on the witness stand, pointed to Yates as her attacker. She had picked him out of a photo lineup a short time after she was robbed.
The big break in the case, however, came when it was learned off-duty Sgt. Rusty Woodlee had seen Yates inside the store minutes before the heist. Prior to that time, Patel had told lawmen she thought maybe an Hispanic man had committed the crime due to Yates? dark tan.
Woodlee testified during trial Yates was holding a cloth over his face when he first saw him and that he was also dressed the same as the person who robbed Patel. Yates reportedly dropped the cloth when he saw Woodlee, carrying on a short conversation with the off-duty lawman. He would put the cloth back over his face minutes later and rob Patel after the officer left the store. Woodlee did not realize the significance of his encounter until talking to officers the next day.
Yates was convicted following a day-long trial in which he did not take the stand in his own behalf. Yates will be serving his sentence in addition to a probation violation.