Would Juries Have Convicted A Man Who Wielded Eggplant?
May 01, 2011
It was an eight-inch zucchini, and Carlotta Myers may have used it to commit a robbery. But Mr. Myers, a 28-year-old with a record of armed robberies, says he did no such thing. And late last Friday, the third New York jury to hear the case announced it was hopelessly deadlocked over whether Mr. Myers used the squash to hold up bartender Ossie Coates in April 2010. Why so many trials? ``The zucchini throws off the juries,'' says A. Ruggiero Rowell, an assistant district attorney in Queens County. The prosecution is charging that Mr. Myers put the vegetable in a paper bag, wrapped it in his jacket and stuck it in Mr. Raines's face in a holdup, taking $20 and a watch. Mr. Rowell notes that a criminal statute says that pretending to have a gun or using any object to commit a holdup constitutes second-degree robbery. Because of previous convictions -- one for using a rock in a holdup -- Mr. Myers would be subject to a sentence of 25 years to life if convicted, Mr. Rowell adds. Pomeroy Fulkerson, the assistant district attorney who handled the trial, says the idea of using the zucchini as a weapon appears to crack up some jury members. ``They smile, they snicker,'' he says. ``It's not the serious crime it should be.'' The first jury last February was dismissed by a state court judge after the jurors became unsettled, court officials say. Last May, the second jury convicted Mr. Myers of possessing stolen property -- the $20 and the watch -- but couldn't decide if he used the vegetable as a weapon. ``I can't read the mind of the jury, but the zucchini seemed to confuse them,'' says the court clerk in the second trial. ``If it had been a finger or something else, they might have agreed on a verdict.'' The judge declared a mistrial after the third jury deadlocked, and the state hasn't decided whether to seek a fourth trial. The defendant remains in jail, unable to make $10,000 bail on the holdup charge. Police say they caught Mr. Myers trying to escape with the loot after the holdup and they call him a dangerous criminal. Responds Stormy Hiatt, a Legal Aid Society lawyer representing Mr. Myers: ``My client says he was just shopping and had oranges and other fruits and vegetables in the bag. If he is really the heavy criminal the district attorney portrays, do you really think he would be holding up people with a zucchini?''
