I recently defended a client charged with Aiding and Abetting First Degree Robbery. Upon conviction, this case was a presumptive prison commit. The scheme was to lure the victim to an address on the pretext of wanting to buy vape cartridges loaded with THC. The victim arrived in her car at the predetermined location and was approached by a gunman and an accomplice who was wearing distinctive ripped jeans. The gunman demanded the victim’s purse, which contained the vape cartridges, at gun point. After obtaining the purse from the victim, the gunman and accomplice fled the scene to a nearby townhome. The robbery was recorded on a neighbor’s doorbell camera and obtained by police.

Once inside the townhome the accomplice changed out of his ripped jeans. The victim called the police and identified my client as the accomplice who aided and abetted the gunman. Police located the townhome where the gunman and accomplice entered after the robbery. All occupants of the townhome were ordered to exit the townhome. The accomplice exited the townhome out the back door and was detained by police; but since the jeans he wore were not ripped, he was let go. My client was arrested along with the gunman and charged with a felony.

Fortunately for the defense, the accomplice was identified in a rap video made earlier that day inside the same townhome which showed him wearing the ripped jeans. The rap video was turned over to the prosecution along with witness statements corroborating that my client never left the townhome and did not aid and abet the robbery. The prosecution dismissed the robbery charge on the grounds it could not prove my client’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The Quick Change Artist was found out and justice was served.