Failed robbery attempt gets man 40-year sentence
Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008
A Texarkana, Texas, man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for aggravated robbery of a penny arcade in June 2007.
“I went in. I thought it was a cafe and I was going to buy a beer,” David Pierce said at his sentencing hearing Tuesday before Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson. “It was some kind of casino, and I saw him passing out money. I don’t remember what happened after that.” Deputy prosecutor Carlton Jones filled in the gaps for Pierce using police reports and witness statements. “You asked him to give that money to you, and at some point you advised that if he didn’t give you the money, you were ‘ going to fire him up, ’” Jones said.
Pierce never got any cash from the attendant at the Golden Nugget Arcade on State Line Avenue in Texarkana, Ark.
The attendant told Pierce he should leave, but Pierce repeated his threat, according to reports.
The attendant, Frank McCloy, said he became concerned Pierce might hurt him or a patron, he told police.
But instead of handing Pierce what he demanded, McCloy pulled a pocketknife. Pierce turned and left. McCloy gave Pierce a swift kick in the rear as he escorted him out the door, witnesses said.
Pierce told Johnson he was high and drunk the day he tried to rob the penny arcade.
“I’d had 24, 24-ounce cans of beer and I’d just recently gotten my sling off for my broke shoulder and was taking Lortab,” Pierce said.
Lortab is a powerful opiatebased painkiller.
Pierce entered a plea of guilty to aggravated robbery and was sentenced by Johnson to serve 40 years.
He was given credit for the 410 days he spent in jail awaiting trial. Pierce has two previous felony convictions for aggravated robbery.
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