A Shenandoah man must remain in prison for robbing two men on consecutive days in October 2008, a three-judge state Superior Court panel ruled.
In a six-page opinion filed Friday in Pottsville, the panel ruled sufficient evidence existed to support the conviction of Robert Lee Harris, 21.
"The evidence was sufficient to convict Harris of the crime of robbery," Judge Anne E. Lazarus wrote in the opinion.
As a result, Harris must continue to serve four to eight years in prison under the terms of the sentences county president Judge William E. Baldwin imposed on him Feb. 7, 2011. Although Baldwin sentenced Harris to serve his time in a state correctional institution, he actually is serving it in the Indiana County Jail.
At the end of a one-day trial over which Baldwin presided, a jury convicted Harris on Dec. 7, 2009, of three counts of robbery and two each of theft and conspiracy.
Shenandoah police charged Harris with robbing Jeffrey Najunas and Brandon Fowler on Oct. 29 and 30, 2008, respectively, in the borough.
In the opinion, Lazarus wrote that Harris challenged only the sufficiency of the evidence relating to the robbery of Najunas, but that his challenge must fail.
Najunas testified that Harris showed him a gun and told him to give him everything he had in his pockets, which the victim did, according to Lazarus.
Lazarus wrote that the jury could believe Najunas' testimony even though there was evidence to the contrary.
"It is the province of the jury to assess the credibility of witnesses," she wrote.
Furthermore, the fact that Harris did not use the gun or hurt Najunas is irrelevant, Lazarus wrote.
"Harris' act of revealing the gun to Najunas was 'constructive force,' a threatening gesture that operated on Najunas' mind and caused him to be separated from his property," and that supports the robbery conviction, Lazarus wrote.
Judge Christine Donohue and Senior Judge James J. Fitzgerald III, the other panel members, concurred with Lazarus' opinion.
Defendant: Robert Lee Harris
Age: 21
Residence: Shenandoah
Crimes committed: Three counts of robbery and two each of theft and conspiracy
Prison sentence: Four to eight years