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Last updated on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
(BEDFORD) - Jury selection begins this morning in Lawrence Superior Court II.
Zane Payton, of Mitchell, is facing charges of aiding in armed robbery. He is being represented by defense attorney Alphonso Manns
According to a probable cause affidavit, on August 9th 2011, Payton, Matt Green, Tommy Jones and a third male identified at JT was at a friend's home and come up with a plan to rob the Clark Station in Mitchell.
The four wearing bandanas, masks, and Payton in a tux, went back to the store and robbed the clerk Sujan Singh.
Singh told police he knew the men that threatened him - first with a gun and then a club.
The men took cigarettes and cash and fled the store.
Police were able to get a description of the men from security video and Singh.
While Mitchell officers were reviewing the video, a Lawrence County Police Department officer saw a pickup truck with four people in it. When the officer turned around, the vehicle sped up.
Once the vehicle was stopped, officers found unopened cigarettes they believe were taken from the gas station at Main Street and Ind. 37, and a club they believe was used in the robbery.
Mitchell Police Chief Jerry Presnell at the time said the four in the vehicle blamed four others on the robbery. They told police they had been partying at a house on Ind. 60 West, and it wasn't them.
After interviewing other people, including some who were at the party, it turned out that two of those in the truck were involved in the robbery. In addition to evidence recovered from the truck, police also found clothing the robbers were wearing at the home where they had been partying.
Police then arrested Matt Green, 22, 516 Forest View Drive, and Tommy Jones, 19, Mitchell, each on a charge of armed robbery.
A little later Tuesday, Mitchell police found one of the juvenile suspects and arrested him. The other juvenile suspect turned himself in Tuesday evening.
Presnell declined to release the names of the juveniles. He did say they were males, one being 16 and the other 17. Both from Mitchell. The juveniles were taken to the Jackson County youth detention facility.
The clerk told police the suspects, who made off with cigarettes and money, had a gun. But police had not found the gun at the time of the arrests or the money. They did recover several packages of cigarettes.
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