CLOSING ARGUMENTS WEDNESDAY IN BURTON BANK ROBBERY TRIAL
Update: District Attorney Julie Renken contacted KWHI at noon Thursday to say the jury deliberated about 4 1/2 hours, but were ultimately hung. She said the State has not decided whether to go forward again with the case, but she will contact the local media when they make up their minds.
Closing arguments were heard today (Wednesday) in the trial of Burton State Bank robbery suspect, Shawn Patrick Childers.
(Washington Co. Jail)
A 12-person jury broke into deliberations around 2 p.m. after hearing from the prosecution and the defense. Childers, of La Grange, is charged with three counts of aggravated robbery for each of the three tellers he allegedly displayed a handgun to during the robbery of the Burton State Bank on June 7, 2018.
In her closing remarks, District Attorney Julie Renken reviewed testimony and evidence that indicated Childers had a troubled financial history, detailing how he had a negative bank account balance of $558 before the robbery and that his last significant deposit dated back to January 6, 2018. She then exhibited financial records showing Childers making a bank deposit of $1,500 after the robbery, despite being unemployed at the time, as well as casino records of Childers going to gamble at the Golden Nugget and Coushatta in Louisiana in the days after June 7, 2018.
The jury also saw phone records that revealed Childers traveled to Burton, Fayetteville, Industry and Caldwell in the week leading up to the robbery, an act that Renken argued was for the purpose of casing banks in those towns, as she claimed he never visited them regularly. Childers’ phone was also found to be turned off during the time of the robbery itself.
Renken rhetorically asked how many coincidences can happen to one person, and said all of the evidence put together is enough to prove without a reasonable doubt that Childers is the correct suspect. The defense argued that the evidence presented by the prosecution is circumstantial and, when considered individually, is not enough to prove Childers is guilty.
The trial got underway with jury selection on October 3rd. The case is being heard in 21st District Court before Judge Carson Campbell.