TOLEDO, Ohio-A state appeals court reversed the conviction of one of five men involved in a string of credit union robberies that netted them almost $1 million.
The conviction was reversed because the trial judge did not explain how much time the Toledo man faced in prison when the judge accepted his plea. David Booth, 39, was sentenced July 31, 2007, to 17 years in prison after he pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated robbery, one with a firearm specification.
"Based on the trial court's statement of the penalty involved in this case, appellant may well have been under the impression that the highest penalty he could receive would be nine years in prison," the appeals court said. "Such impression would certainly have had an unfair effect on appellant's decision to enter a no contest plea, perhaps even inducing him to enter it."
Booth was among five ring members convicted of the robberies, which terrorized employees and members at area credit unions over a three-year period. The ring was responsible for two robberies at Jeep FCU, and heists at Toledo Public Schools FCU, Champion FCU, Standard S&L, and an attempted robbery at Toledo Police FCU.
