Potter outraged jury didn’t return a guilty verdict
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Meanwhile, his defense team believes it was his long criminal record – not actual evidence – which led to him being charged in the first place.
“And you thought O.J. just happened in California and on television,” said an irritated District Attorney General Dale Potter following the verdict. “When O.J. happened, it shocked the nation. This outcome should shock this community the same way.
“I don’t know what it will take. We had eye-witnesses and officers who did their jobs. All we lacked was a confession. In the cases we’ve been involved in over the years, this is the biggest disappointment.”
Although not an air-tight case, prosecutors thought they had carried the burden of overcoming reasonable doubt against Whited, especially in the case of the Pit Stop North robbery.
“Either people are watching too much CSI on television or don’t know what it takes to prove armed robbery because no case is 100 percent,” Potter said. “The jury was wanting to hold us to more than reasonable doubt. Hey, this is their community. If they want to release people like this back onto their streets it’s up to them. But, they can’t blame the police or the state if a person goes back out and commits the same crime after they’ve turned them loose. I don’t usually get upset over an outcome, but this one is disturbing to me.”
Whited could have faced up to 30 years in prison as a career criminal if convicted.
“We were basically looking at a life sentence,” said public defender Dan Bryant. “I think they charged him because his pickup and he, himself, kind of fit the description. And, when they learned about his prior record, that sealed it. The problem here is that they probably rushed to justice.”
Potter said lawmen did not know the extent of his prior criminal record when they charged him.
Whited’s prior criminal record included 11 convictions for an armed robbery spree in Hillsboro County, Fla., during the summer of 1985. The robberies, which were all part of one summer-long spree, ended when Whited was convicted on the 11 counts in late 1985 and sentenced to 20 years in jail. He was released from the Florida prison system after serving a large portion of his sentence. He was also convicted on grand theft charges, most coming during the robbery spree. He moved here in 1999 after his release in Florida.
While his record was known to attorneys in the case, jurors never got to hear about his prior record because court rules forbid introduction of such evidence since it did not directly involve the crimes for which he was being tried Friday and could have prejudiced the jury against him.
Pit Stop North clerk Andrea Hill, who identified Whited as the man who robbed her, said she was not aware of his prior record until after the trial. The revelation made the acquittal even tougher to handle.
“He was the man, period,” Hill said of Whited, saying she had a long, good look at him before he donned the mask. “I’m very upset about it. I cried in the courtroom. What they (the jurors) did was wrong. I can’t understand why they did that, just turning him loose.”
Hill said she is now worried about retribution since Whited was in jail for six months and is now free. However, she still stands behind her testimony and says she would do it again.
“I’m scared and my children are scared,” Hill said. “But, I did the right thing. There’s things you have to stand up and be counted for and this was one of them. It’s just hard now to try to tell my children the system works when something like this happens.”
Meanwhile, Bryant stands behind his client’s innocence, noting Whited maintained his innocence all along.
“We don’t believe he did it,” Bryant said. “I mean, why would he just come up with an alibi for one day when he was charged with two robberies. If he was lying, why not have an alibi for both days?”