From Gentry Estes:
According to a deposition filed in district court Tuesday, "The defendant admitted to committing the robbery."
According to court documents, the suspect in the case wore a checkered white and black baseball cap with the letter "A" and fled the area by walking toward the rear of Bryant Hall. The alleged victim was shown footage of individuals entering and exiting Bryant Hall before and after the time of the robbery and identified Elder as the person that robbed him.
This just sucks.
Update [2008-2-19 15:40:13 by outsidethesidelines]:
In the comments sections of some of the previous threads, we were crucified a bit for the previous posts on Elder. I want to take a minute to briefly defend those posts.
If you re-read those posts, essentially all that was said was this: Unless the victims in this case completely fabricated this story, or unless this is a case of mistaken identity, Elder is in a lot of trouble and, given the serious nature of the charges, could very well end up spending many years in a state penitentiary. Undeniably, all of that is very much true.
Perhaps most telling, the story ended with a very quick arrest and then the setting of a very high bail. Any time you see those two things put together, that should be a definite sign as to the situation at hand. Given those two things, I suppose it really shouldn't surprise anyone today that we hear news of Elder admitting to the crime.
Of course it goes without saying that we all hope that these charges prove to be unfounded. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. Ever since the story first broke, all signs pointed to Elder having committed the crimes in question, and unfortunately that initial feeling has seemingly only been further validated. Moreover, as mentioned previously, the charges in question come with a very high punishment, and a conviction will undoubtedly result in a long stay in prison. Again, we all hope that these charges prove to be unfounded and that Elder is fully exonerated, but no one should be kidding themselves the seriousness of the situation or its likely outcome.
At this point, we have two eye-witness accounts -- both of which had an extremely up-close encounter with the suspect, thus greatly reducing the chances of mistaken identity -- and now we have a confession from the suspect himself. I'm afraid, deep down, we all know this one is going to end.
Update [2008-2-20 17:43:49 by Todd]:
gorjus linked this in the comments:
On the statement in the deposition filed in Tuscaloosa County district court that Elder admitted to the robbery, Swords (Elder's attorney) said, "I haven't been presented with a confession or any formal statement he would have given. The officer may have alleged that in the report or in the deposition he provided for the basis of a warrant but I haven't been provided anything."
Further:
-- Swords said it was his understanding that Elder actually had a pellet gun during the incident, not a semi-automatic pistol that was listed in deposition filed Tuesday in Tuscaloosa County district court. (It's not clear from the deposition if police have the gun in their possession or if that was simply the testimony of the two UA students who were the victims).
-- Swords said it was his understanding that Elder had not been in trouble with the law before and that Elder is eligible to file for youthful offender status, which would seal the case file.
Hopefully he can file for youthful offender status or at least get some leniency from the courts so $26 doesn't ruin the kid's life.