Lankford v. State

The defendant was not entitled to a separate trial where his trial involved only three jointly-charged defendants, each man's role in the crimes was fairly well-defined and their defenses were not antagonistic.

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Following a jury trial, Anthony Lankford appeals his conviction on multiple counts of armed robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, and related crimes. He argues that the court erred in denying his motion to sever his trial from the other two defendants accused of jointly participating in the same crimes on the same dates and in denying his motion for mistrial that arose when the State announced mid-trial that two witnesses would be testifying to new information. We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing severance and that the mistrial motion is moot since neither of the two “new” witnesses in fact testified. Accordingly, we affirm. Construed in favor of the verdict, Short v. State ,1 the evidence shows that shortly after midnight on the morning of May 21, 1999, three men disguised in ski masks and armed with a shotgun and a handgun kicked in the door of a residence and, yelling they were federal agents, raced to the rear of the residence where the owner and some friends were in a back bedroom. A fourth man remained in the vehicle in which the men had arrived. One of the three entrants fired the shotgun through the closed bedroom door, shooting off the thumb of a man who was trying to keep the door closed. Once in the bedroom, the attackers, one of whom was wearing a camouflage jacket and brandishing the handgun, pointed their weapons at the room’s occupants and demanded money from the homeowner and his four guests, taking from two of the occupants a wallet, an ankle monitor, keys, and money. The three men returned to the waiting car and with the fourth man escaped in the vehicle.

Before the victims could report the crime, an officer observed the vehicle with the four men, which was speeding and which ran a stop sign. As the officer followed them in his vehicle, they suddenly stopped their car and ran into the nearby woods, scattering and successfully escaping. They later met to conjure up stories they would tell to police to cover up their involvement in the crimes.

Lankford v. State

The defendant was not entitled to a separate trial where his trial involved only three jointly-charged defendants, each man's role in the crimes was fairly well-defined and their defenses were not antagonistic.

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