Utica, NY -- A federal jury today convicted three men of an Oneida County jewelry store robbery that resulted in the death of a New Hartford police officer four years ago. Marion Pegese, Robert Ward and Toussaint Davis were each convicted of felony murder, conspiracy and robbery for the Feb. 27, 2006, shooting death of Officer Joseph Corr after...
View full sizeThe flag-draped casket of slain New Hartford Police Officer Joseph D. Corr is carried from St. John the Evangelist Church in New Hartford in this photo from March 3, 2006. A federal jury found three men guilty of robbing a jewelry store, a crime that led to Corr's death.Utica, NY -- A federal jury today convicted three men of an Oneida County jewelry store robbery that resulted in the death of a New Hartford police officer four years ago.
Marion Pegese, Robert Ward and Toussaint Davis were each convicted of felony murder, conspiracy and robbery for the Feb. 27, 2006, shooting death of Officer Joseph Corr after he responded to the robbery of the Lennon's-W.B. Wilcox jewelry store in New Hartford.
When the verdicts were announced at 5 p.m., four or five of Corr's relatives clenched each other's hands, sobbed and quietly said "Yes!" They were seated in the gallery of the courtroom to see each of the defendants convicted on all three counts.
Davis turned around to face Corr's family after the verdict, then muttered and winked at them before U.S. marshals told him to face forward.
U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue scheduled sentencing for April 10 and 11. Each defendant faces up to life in prison.
The jury also convicted the three men of robbing a jewelry store in Freehold, N.J., six months before the New Hartford robbery.
In the New Hartford robbery, police arrived after an employee hiding in the back of the store called 911. The robbers fled and police chased after them. One of the robbers, Walter Richardson, fatally shot Corr during the pursuit.
Richardson fled home to Philadelphia and was killed in an armed confrontation with U.S. marshals the next day.
The $1.8 million in stolen jewelry from the New Jersey robbery has never been recovered, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Southwick said.
After the New Jersey robbery, Davis made multiple searches on the Internet at his girlfriend's home for news on that case, Southwick said. Davis also ran searches on the Lennon-W.B. Wilcox jewelry store in New Hartford, and printed out directions on how to get there, Southwick said.
In the New Hartford robbery, a Lennon's employee was hiding in a back room when she called 911, Southwick said. The robbers found her and were pointing a gun at her, with one of them shouting for the other to shoot, when police arrived and the robbers fled, Southwick said.
Corr lost his life in the line of duty that night and the worker's life was saved, said Southwick, who prosecuted the case with Assistant U.S. Attorney John Duncan.
Davis, of Philadelphia, was convicted on state charges in 2007 as an accomplice in the New Hartford heist and Corr's murder. Pegese and Ward were previously convicted in the New Jersey robbery.
Lawyers for Pegese and Ward argued prosecutors hadn't presented sufficient evidence that their clients were at the scene. Southwick had argued that cell phone records from the defendants' phones traced their route from Philadelphia to New Hartford and back twice -- once four days before the robbery for a dry run then on the day of the robbery and the day after.