Armed Robbery Conviction, 18 year Sentence Affirmed

PRESS RELEASE
October 12 , 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact: Bernie Weisenfeld- PIO

A New Jersey appeals court today (10/12) affirmed the 2008 armed robbery conviction and 18-year prison sentence of Richard R. Gardner (DOB 9/22/81), of Glassboro NJ, rejecting defense claims of judicial error and prosecutorial misconduct at Gardner’s trial.

While also upholding Gardner’s conviction for possession of a weapon by a felon, the appellate judges ordered a resentencing of the defendant to merge guilty verdicts on conspiracy, theft, assault and weapons possession counts into the armed robbery conviction. The total 18-year sentence remains unchanged.

Gardner and co-defendant Omar Rhodes (5/6/82), of Elmer NJ, were charged with threatening a 40-year-old man with a knife and punching him in the face before robbing him of cash in Franklinville NJ on May 3, 2006. The victim identified the license tag of the getaway car in a 911 call moments after the incident.

“Our case was not a case where ‘egregious’ errors deprived the defendant of a fair trial,” Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Joseph Enos wrote in a brief submitted to the appeals panel. “In our case, the person who committed the robbery was convicted. That’s a just result.”

Claims that the judge allowed impermissible testimony and the prosecutor elicited prejudicial comments from a witness were found to be “unpersuasive” and “unobjectionable,” the appeals court wrote.