Darrell D. Dixon drove the getaway car in a Tremont bank robbery in August 2012, a Schuylkill County jury decided Friday in convicting him of six charges stemming from the incident.
Dixon, 29, of Harrisburg, did not react as the jury of eight women and four men found him guilty of two counts of robbery and one each of conspiracy, theft, receiving stolen property and fleeing or eluding police. Jurors deliberated approximately two hours before reaching their verdict.
President Judge William E. Baldwin, who presided over the two-day trial, ordered preparation of a presentence investigation but did not immediately scheduled Dixon's sentencing.
Baldwin said he would rule on the three summary charges filed against Dixon - driving under suspension, careless driving and reckless driving - when he sentences him.
After the verdict, Dixon returned to the county prison, where he is being held in lieu of $250,000 straight cash bail.
State police at Schuylkill Haven charged that on Aug. 23, 2012, Dixon drove Juan R. Cooke II to and from Miners Bank, 29 E. Main St., Tremont.
Cooke went in the bank at 9:22 a.m. and robbed it of $18,222.32, police said. Dixon drove south on Interstate 81, ending up in a high-speed chase that resulted in him crashing his Chrysler Town & Country minivan in the median on I-81 in Dauphin County a few miles south of Grantville, according to police.
In his closing argument Friday, Robert I. Lipkin, Pottsville, Dixon's lawyer, told the jury they should believe his client's testimony that he had no idea what was going on until after the crash because Cooke never told him why he went to Tremont.
"Is this the kind of person who ... would knowingly participate in a bank robbery? No," Lipkin said of his client.
Lipkin attacked the investigation by police, saying they should have obtained DNA and fingerprints from the money and taken pictures of the bills they said were strewn around the minivan.
"The important things here are the lack of certain forensic evidence, the lack of photographs," he said.
He also questioned why police said Dixon admitted taking $1,000 from Cooke to drive him to Tremont but did not challenge him on his failure to put it in his written statement.
"These guys made up their minds they knew what happened," Lipkin said. "That's why Darrell Dixon is here today."
He said Dixon has no duty to ask Cooke anything and that it makes no sense that he would risk his freedom for only $1,000.
Lipkin said Dixon showed bad judgment in fleeing police but that does not indicate he had any knowledge of what was occurring.
"Did he know that Juan Cooke had robbed the bank? No," he said. "I believe you must acquit him."
Cooke, 33, of Harrisburg, has charges pending against him in the county court but is scheduled to enter a guilty plea at 1:30 p.m. April 24 before Judge James P. Goodman.
In his closing argument Friday, First Assistant District Attorney Thomas J. Campion Jr. said police had established that crimes had occurred, Dixon admitted driving the minivan and that the only question was whether he knew what was going on.
Dixon deliberately omitted the mention of the $1,000 from his written statement, Campion said. Dixon also omitted Cooke's name from his written statement, he said.
"He took out some of the items" from the written statement after thinking of the consequences, Campion said.
The idea that Dixon would drive Cooke to and from Tremont - at least a 45-minute one-way trip - without asking him why or exactly where he wanted to go, even after Cooke stayed only a minute in the bank and police were chasing them, is absurd, Campion said.
"Why wouldn't he ask where he was going?" he said.
Campion also said Dixon's actions when police spotted him and Cooke spoke volumes, belying Dixon's claim that it was because he had tinted windows and had been stopped several times.
"He decides that the best course of action is to just take off ... driving like a maniac just because he's afraid of tinted windows. He wasn't going that fast but he flipped seven times," Campion said. "None of that makes sense."
The jury agreed with Campion, a result that disappointed Lipkin.
"We will be aggressively pursuing an appeal," he said.
Campion thought the result was correct.
"I'm happy with the jury's verdict," he said. "I think they took their time, weighed all the evidence and came back with the right verdict."Defendant: Darrell D. Dixon
Age: 29
Residence: Harrisburg
Verdict: Guilty of two counts of robbery and one each of conspiracy, theft, receiving stolen property and fleeing or eluding police