GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - A federal judge in Mississippi will hold a single trial for Alabama men charged in seven armed bank robberies from 2008 and 2012.
U.S. Chief District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. has scheduled the trial for April 7 in Gulfport.
The Sun Herald reports (https://bit.ly/1fGJRIh ) the men are accused of wearing masks and using stolen vehicles as getaway cars in five armed bank holdups in South Mississippi and one each in Greenville, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla.
The Mississippi robberies were in Biloxi, Gautier, Gulfport and Moss Point, where two banks were robbed. The trial is set for April 7.
Prosecutors said in the motion for a consolidated trial that a nearly four-year gap between the bank robberies came while Randy Laverne Marshall, 33, was in prison on a firearms conviction.
Prosecutors said the holdups were conducted in a similar fashion. They identified Marshall and Keith Anthony Kiel, 37, as ringleaders and said the two acted as a “common management team seeking a common goal.”
Each bank was robbed in the same way in holdups that lasted about two minutes. The banks had no security guards, are near an interstate and are within a one- to two-hour drive of the Saraland/Prichard area of South Alabama, prosecutors said.
Lamarcus Deshon Moore, 29, arraigned Monday, is accused of helping Marshall and Kiel with five bank robberies between December 2012 and last May.
Reginald Martez Robinson, 33, has admitted helping Marshall and Kiel rob two banks in May and June of 2008. Robinson accepted a plea agreement Jan. 30. He will be sentenced April 30.
Kiel also faces trial on a charge of witness intimidation. Court papers show Kiel allegedly tried to influence or prevent another person from testifying in the case on Sept. 25 in Harrison County. He repeatedly asked the person if he intended to plead guilty and said “if you keep your mouth shut, we’ll all go home,” the indictment said.
A grand jury indicted Marshall, Kiel and Moore in January on charges involving the 2008 robberies. Marshall, Kiel and Robinson were indicted last June on charges involving the 2012 bank holdups.
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Information from: The Sun Herald, https://www.sunherald.com
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