Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 5, 1991 TAG: 9103050276
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
Anthony M. "Stinky" Wright was sentenced to 15 years in prison as part of a plea agreement.
Wright, who has spent much of his adult life in prison, agreed to testify Thursday against one of two alleged accomplices in the daylight heist at Stanley Jewelers on Aug. 16.
Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said the plea agreement with Wright was necessary because a confession that Rocky Mount police obtained from Wright would have been worthless in court.
Hapgood said Police Lt. Ray Lemons continued to interrogate Wright after the suspect had asked for an attorney.
"I think it was done just plain incorrectly," Hapgood said of the confession.
Wright - facing a possible life term - nonetheless agreed to plead guilty in exchange for the 15-year sentence.
Circuit Judge B.A. Davis III approved the plea agreement.
Hapgood said evidence would have shown that Wright and two other Martinsville men, Gerald Gallant, 33, and William A. Staples, drove to Rocky Mount on Aug. 16.
Shortly after 11 a.m., Wright and Staples walked into Stanley Jewelers on South Main Street and pulled a pistol on the owner, Everett Stanley, Hapgood said.
The two men tied up Stanley, grabbed $150 in cash and a large quantity of jewelry and sped away in a pickup truck, with Gallant behind the wheel, Hapgood said.
Stanley struggled free and called police. A few minutes later, Franklin County Sheriff's Deputy Jerry Staples spotted the suspects' pickup and chased it south on U.S. 220. The truck wrecked on Virginia 605, injuring two of the men and scattering watches, necklaces and rings across the highway, Hapgood said.
Staples was paralyzed in the wreck, and charges against him were later dropped.
Gallant has told authorities that the two other men forced him at gunpoint to participate in the robbery. Hapgood said that Wright will testify that Gallant was a willing participant.
Gallant's jury trial is scheduled for Thursday in Franklin County Circuit Court.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on March 6, 1991.
Anthony M. "Stinky" Wright, 28, of Martinsville was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in an Aug. 18 armed robbery of a Rocky Mount jewelry store. Because of a reporter's error, an article in Tuesday's editions gave an incorrect length of the sentence.
Memo: CORRECTION