The last of three men convicted of robbing a 色多多 bank was sentenced Wednesday to two and a half years in prison.
Tishawn Simpson, 25, was unarmed when he and another masked man walked into the Carter Bank and Trust branch on Hershberger Road Northwest shortly before noon June 22, 2023.
But a handwritten note they handed to tellers threatened death if their demand for cash was not met.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Parrella asked for a sentence of three years and one month, the same punishment that the other robber, Demonte J. Belcher, received after his guilty plea last year.
But U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen said he considered Simpson to be the less culpable of the two. He also cited the defendant鈥檚 troubled childhood and 鈥渦nspeakable trauma鈥 he suffered at an early age.
When Simpson was 9 years old, a deranged family member tried twice to stab him to death. 鈥淭his experience changed Tishawn Simpson forever,鈥 defense attorney Brooks Duncan wrote in a sentencing memorandum that detailed the post-traumatic stress, mental problems and substance abuse that followed.
Duncan asked for the two-and-a-half-year sentence, which was less than what was recommended by sentencing guidelines.
A third man, Ramel L. Abrams, did not enter the bank but was convicted of acting as an aider or abettor in the robbery, based in part on evidence that his fingerprints were found on the note demanding money. He received a 30-month sentence.
