Accomplice in Dollar General Store robbery in January found guilty

~ Defense attorneys had argued Patricia Sutton's confession had been altered by a police officer.

A Cape Girardeau County jury found Patricia A. Sutton, 43, guilty of first-degree robbery and false imprisonment Tuesday.

The jury found Sutton acted as an accomplice during an armed robbery that occurred Jan. 6 at the Dollar General Store, 64 S. Plaza Way in Cape Girardeau, according to a news release from Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle's office.

Sutton, a former employee at Dollar General, was working the night of the robbery. A masked man brandished a gun and forced Sutton and another clerk down onto the floor and tied their hands with wire, according to the probable-cause statement.

The robber then removed money from the store safe, the statement said.

At the trial Tuesday, a store manager testified that her inventory reflected about $3,000 missing from the safe after the robbery.

Police later arrested Gregory D. Williams, 33, of Cape Girardeau, on suspicion of the crime. He confessed, telling police the whole thing had been Sutton's idea, according to the sworn statement.

According to the statement, Williams told police that Sutton informed him the store would have a large amount of cash Jan. 6 at closing time, and allowed him to hide in the back of the store, giving him a signal when it was safe to come out.

During a Feb. 8 interview, Sutton confessed to Cpl. Rodney Edwards of the Cape Girardeau Police Department to helping plan the robbery.

"I told Greg where to hide in the building, when to enter the store, who else would be working, rattling the keys as a signal to come to the office and that all employees needed to be tied up," Sutton stated in a written confession entered into evidence during trial.

Sutton's attorneys, Joanthan Minkus of Chicago and Jeff Dix of Cape Girardeau, said Sutton's confession was not voluntary, that she requested an attorney at the police interview, and that Edwards had added untrue things to her written statement.

"It is a false confession," Minkus said during his closing argument.

Generally, Cape Girardeau police favor recording of custodial interviews for serious crimes like robbery, said police spokesman Sgt. Barry Hovis.

"Typically, if you'd interview someone on an important case, you'd take them upstairs to the interview room, which is equipped with built-in audio and video surveillance," he said.

Edwards interviewed Sutton in the second-floor interview room during a time when renovations were being made to the room, and technical complications caused the recording system to deactivate.

Edwards thought the interview was being recorded at the time he questioned Sutton, Hovis said.

"Rodney Edwards is an honorable and honest officer who takes seriously his obligations to serve and protect," Swingle said after the verdict.

Swingle said Edwards would never make up a false confession.

Williams faces charges of attempting to escape custody while under arrest for a felony, and three counts of first-degree robbery. His case is set for a mental competency hearing on a change of venue to Butler County on Dec. 13.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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