Robbery Suspect Acquitted Because of Lax Police Work, Juror Says

A Prince George's County man charged with the armed robbery of a Subway sandwich shop was acquitted by a county jury this month after a detective testified that investigators did not collect evidence from surveillance cameras at the eatery.

Detective George Long also said that he did not check to see if a fingerprint lifted from the scene was left by the defendant, that police did not canvass the area for witnesses and that he did not follow up with a Subway customer who gave a statement the day of the robbery.

"The general feeling among the jurors was that the lack of evidence presented was sad," juror Pamela Pine said of the state's case. "To quote the prosecutor, the investigation was shoddy."

Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Wright used that word to describe the police investigation during his closing argument, according to Pine and the defense attorney, Harry J. Trainor Jr. A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said that Wright could not recall whether he used the word "shoddy."

Wright argued to the jury that the state nonetheless had presented enough evidence for a conviction.

Long did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Maj. Andy Ellis, a spokesman for the county police, declined to comment on the case. He said department policy requires detectives to seek evidence from surveillance cameras when possible and to search for available witnesses.

The defendant, Henry Angulo-Gil, 33, was convicted last week of first-degree felony murder in an unrelated case. The killing occurred the day after the robbery at the Subway.

In the armed-robbery case, the jury acquitted Angulo-Gil after deliberating for a little more than an hour, Pine and Trainor said. Just before the verdicts were announced, Pine asked Circuit Court Judge Graydon S. McKee III whether she could make a statement. McKee said she could not.

Pine said in an interview that she planned to tell the court, "The lack of evidence, even when it could have been made available had the investigative work been properly done, was very disappointing and did not let the jury do its job well."

Angulo-Gil, of the 6300 block of Ager Road in Hyattsville, was charged in the April 2007 robbery of the Subway in the 3600 block of Bladensburg Road, in Colmar Manor, near the D.C. border.

In charging documents, Long alleged that Angulo-Gil walked behind the counter, picked up a $100 bill that was on the sink and stuffed it in his pants pocket. When Subway worker Maria Lopez confronted him, Angulo-Gil brandished a handgun and pointed it at her and another worker, the documents allege.