DETROIT – The widow of the armored-truck courier slain in an ATM robbery at DFCU Financial in 2001 is expected to testify next week as a federal jury in Detroit decides whether to order a death sentence for a convicted killer.
Prosecutors say several relatives are likely to speak as victim-witnesses, including Robin Stephens, whose husband Norman Stephens was gunned down while a gang of six robbers made off with $204,000 early in the morning of Dec. 14, 2001.
The witnesses cannot express an opinion on the death penalty.
Timothy O'Reilly was found guilty this week of killing Stephens outside the credit union’s branch at the Fairlane Mall while Stephens was putting cash into ATMs.
The 37-year-old O’Reilly was found guilty of the shooting this week and the penalty phase of the trial commences Monday. Michigan banned the death penalty for state crimes in 1938, the first state to do so, but O’Reilly is being tried under federal statute which still allows for execution for serious crimes such as murder.
