Appeals court: Resentence man in New Bloomfield holdup

Judge Kevin Crane didn't have enough evidence that Gary Leland Coleman, now 51, Jefferson City, threatened to use force during the Oct. 6, 2012, holdup at New Bloomfield's Bank Star One branch, two judges from the appeals court's Kansas City division ruled Tuesday.

Because of that, Judges Joseph M. Ellis and A Rex. Gabbert said Coleman's case should be sent back to the Boone-Callaway County circuit court for sentencing on a "stealing" charge instead of the stronger conviction that Crane determined.

But Judge Karen King Mitchell disagreed, saying Ellis and Gabbert misinterpreted the law.

The Missouri attorney general's office represents local prosecutors when cases are appealed. Spokeswoman Nanci Gonder said Tuesday afternoon they were reviewing the ruling to determine whether they should appeal.

All three judges agreed on the basic facts of Coleman's case, outlined in the majority decision: That Coleman walked into the bank wearing sunglasses, walked straight to the teller, Marla Rothove, "rested his forearm on the counter, leaned slightly forward, handed Rothove a plastic grocery sack, and said, "I need you to do me a favor. Put the money in this bag.'

"He spoke in a low, serious tone."

Rothove put $1,472 into the bag from her teller's drawer.

"The assistant branch manager, Sharon Holland, approached," the appeals court said. "When she was a few feet from Rothove, (Coleman) told her, "Ma'am, stop where you are and don't move any farther.'"

Holland stopped. Coleman took the money and "ran out of the bank. The entire encounter lasted approximately 45 seconds."

Coleman was arrested in San Antonio three months later and, when shown pictures from the bank's surveillance cameras, admitted taking the money from the bank.

Crane eventually heard the case, convicted Coleman of second-degree robbery and sentenced him to 10 years in prison as a persistent offender. He currently is imprisoned at the Moberly Correctional Center.

Court records show Coleman's wife, Terry Alice Coleman, now 42, Holts Summit, pleaded guilty last January to second-degree robbery in the case. She was sentenced to six years in prison, but then was placed on five years probation. She admitted driving her husband to the bank, knowing that he intended to rob it.

Gary Coleman's appeal argued the prosecution had not shown that he forcibly stole the money.

Ellis and Gabbert agreed.

"There must be some affirmative conduct on the part of the defendant, beyond the mere act of stealing, which communicates that he will immediately employ "physical force' if the victim "resist(s) ... the taking of the property'," they said the opinion written by Ellis.

Mitchell countered in her dissent that Ellis and Gabbert "discounted the facts that the teller could not see Coleman's hand, that the teller and branch manager felt afraid, that Coleman demanded money, and that the robbery took place in a bank."

Mitchell thinks the existing state law would allow the judge to "find that Coleman was aware that the nature of his conduct was such that it could be perceived as threatening, even if he did not purposely convey a threat."

She thinks it's "unreasonable to infer that Coleman walked into the bank solely motivated by the hope that the bank would willingly give him money in response to his request."