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motaman
old hand

Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 6,047
Last seen: 12 days, 7 hours
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Man acting as own lawyer guilty of robbing woman, 74
#5903588 - 07/26/06 11:05 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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http://www.readingeagle.com/re/news/1546410.asp
The city resident tells a jury he was involuntarily intoxicated on LSD-laced orange juice when he took what he thought was a brick from Elsie Trump.
By Mary E. Young Reading Eagle A 32-year-old self-employed paralegal acting as his own attorney was found guilty in Berks County Court on Tuesday of taking a wallet containing $30 from a woman standing at a city bus stop.
Stephen K. Gresh of the 1100 block of Franklin Street told the jury that he was a heroin addict who had been involuntarily intoxicated on LSD-laced orange juice when he grabbed what he thought was a brick in the victim's hand.
He also tried to show that he was insane or mentally ill, but Judge James M. Bucci refused to allow that defense after Dr. Larry A. Rotenberg testified that Gresh did not meet the legal criteria.
Gresh called Rotenberg, a forensic psychiatrist affiliated with Reading Hospital, as a defense witness.
Rotenberg said Gresh's bipolar disorder is in remission and that Gresh's antisocial personality disorder would not prevent Gresh from understanding the nature of his actions.
The jury deliberated less than an hour before convicting Gresh of robbery, recklessly endangering another person and related offenses.
The jury found Gresh not guilty of simple assault.
The victim, Elsie Trump, 74, of Reading testified that she was at the bus stop in the 1300 block of Perkiomen Avenue July 30 around 8 a.m. when a car pulled up.
She said she warned the driver that police were ticketing there.
The driver said he wouldn't be long, walked past her, turned, came back and grabbed her wallet, Trump said.
Gresh testified that he had drunk orange juice that belonged to a neighbor identified only as Dottie, not knowing that the orange juice had LSD in it.
He said he felt hot and unwell, so he went for a ride in his car and stopped at the bus stop because he felt as if he was going to vomit.
“On that day I was hallucinating,” he testified. “I didn't know what was going on. I had money in my car. If you're going to go purse snatching, you're not going to do it while there's all these cars driving around.
“It doesn't make any sense. That's not something a normal or rational person would do. I am not like that.”
Gresh said he thought Trump was going to hit him with what he thought was a brick.
But Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey M. Zielinski argued that no evidence or testimony was given to prove that the orange juice had LSD in it.
“He saw an opportunity,” Zielinski said. “He saw a target. He wasn't under the influence of LSD. He was under the influence of greed.
“This individual remembers great detail of what happened that day except this wallet magically looked like a brick.”
Gresh is being held in county prison in lieu of $100,000 bail while awaiting sentencing.
According to testimony, Trump tried to jump on Gresh's back, but fell to the ground. Witnesses called police and held Gresh until they arrived.
Trump was treated at the scene for cuts and bruises.
-------------------- http://heffter.org
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crakkattak
Would you testthis pill?


Registered: 02/19/06
Posts: 471
Last seen: 14 years, 6 months
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Re: Man acting as own lawyer guilty of robbing woman, 74 [Re: motaman]
#5903691 - 07/26/06 11:27 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I don't feel bad for this guy, I believe he got what he deserved, because I bet you he was like a greedy guy like it says in there, and that his stealing habits just continued while he was on LSD. I hate greedy thiefs
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J-to tha R-O-C Knomsayn!
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero


Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
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Re: Man acting as own lawyer guilty of robbing woman, 74 [Re: motaman]
#5904504 - 07/27/06 06:48 AM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Yeah right... "it was the evil LSD that made me do it"... raise your hand if you have ever confused one object for another while tripping on LSD. I have seen some crazy stuff, such as the textures and colors of the floor climbing up my feet and legs, but I have never not known what something was or confused one thing for another. Even when I had so much in my system that I was hearing millions of different voices in my head, I still knew the difference between an apple and an orange. Yet another poster child for the war on drugs. *sigh*
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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