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Marine Pleads Not Guilty In Armed Robbery Series
POSTED: 5:03 pm PDT June 29,
2007
UPDATED: 5:47 pm PDT June 29,
2007
SAN DIEGO -- A Camp Pendleton-based Marine who was shot by an Oceanside liquor store clerk during an alleged robbery attempt pleaded not guilty from his hospital bed Friday to 11 counts of armed robbery and other chargesLance Cpl. McKenzie Smith, 20, is accused of robbing nine such stores beginning May 26. Last Saturday night, a clerk at a store on North Redondo Drive got hold of his handgun and shot him multiple times, authorities said.Smith, who is being treated at Scripps Memorial Hospital, was arraigned in the surgical Intensive Care Unit, Deputy District Attorney Bryn Kirvin said.
Smith, no longer on a ventilator, was alert and "tracking what was going on," Kirvin said, adding the defendant "certainly looked like he'd been injured and was recovering from that."Kirvin said Judge David Rubin set bail at $750,000.An alleged co-defendant, Navy Corpsman Quintel Antonio Brooks, pleaded not guilty Thursday to participating in four of the robberies on June 10.Brooks, 19, was a lookout who held a BB gun on store employees and customers while Smith grabbed money from cash registers, Kirvin alleged.The robbery series netted around $16,000 in cash and assorted items like prepaid phone cards, she said.A July 16 readiness conference is set for Smith, who also faces four counts of attempted robbery and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.The prosecutor said she was told the defendant needed another seven to 10 days in the hospital to recover.
Previous Stories:
- June 28, 2007: Navy Corpsman Pleads Not Guilty To Robbery Series
- June 27, 2007: Second Serviceman Arrested In Connection With Robbery Series
- June 25, 2007: Investigators: Marine ID'd As Liquor Store Robber
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