Verdict 10 years for Little Rock bank robber

He testifies heists carried out to satisfy his drug addiction

Stephen Joel Frazer
Stephen Joel Frazer

A Maumelle man who said his consuming addiction to prescription medication drove him to rob banks to feed his habit, even as his craving for pills propelled him toward suicide, received the minimum sentence Thursday.

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The 10-year prison term imposed on Stephen Joel Frazer by the jury of 10 women and two men will require that he serve at least seven years in prison.

Defense attorney Bill James urged jurors for the lowest penalty. He asked them to consider how dangerous they thought Frazer would be in the future, now that he's overcome his drug addiction.

Too much time in prison would ruin his chances of becoming a productive member of society again, James said.

"What do you have to do to make society safe? Is Stephen Frazer a threat?" he asked. "How much time can you give somebody before they can't come back?"

Frazer has destroyed a once-promising banking career, spent eight months in jail and is now labeled a violent felon, which will force him to struggle for the rest of his life, James said.

With the 10-year minimum sentence that's required by law, James suggested that jurors add only a $45,000 fine, the maximum available, to Frazer's punishment, which would give Frazer a daily reminder of how he'd broken the law.

"Let him go work ... and part of what he makes in the free world he has to pay back for what he's done," the attorney said.

Frazer faced a potential life sentence, although prosecutors said they weren't asking for the maximum penalty in the case.

Jurors deliberated about 5½ hours Thursday before convicting the 30-year-old defendant. The verdict brought Frazer, his family and friends to tears, and led to an angry outburst by his sister who yelled at prosecutors as jurors were leaving the courtroom.

"I hope you're happy now," 35-year-old Laura Gassaway shouted.

Jurors convicted Frazer of simple robbery, which was reduced from aggravated robbery, for the Nov. 13, 2013, holdup at the Bank of the Ozarks on North Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock.

They convicted him of aggravated robbery, as prosecutors had charged, for the Nov. 20, 2013, holdup at the Summit Bank, also on North Rodney Parham, but cleared him of aggravated robbery for taking a sackful of prescription medication from the Walgreens on Cantrell Road. He was arrested a few hours after the Summit Bank robbery.

Frazer, who had no previous convictions, admitted on the witness stand to taking the drugs after passing a note to the pharmacist asking for medication.

But he said what happened at Walgreens, like his encounters at the banks, was only about getting what he wanted to satisfy his craving for prescription medications. His only intention was to steal, but never in a threatening manner, he said.

The difference between the robbery charges is whether the defendant used a gun or claimed to be armed with one during the crime. Frazer said he never carried a firearm or pretended to be armed, telling jurors that he wanted his thefts to be as low-key as possible.

None of his victims saw a gun, but a Bank of the Ozarks teller testified that Frazer had appeared to be pointing a pistol at her that was hidden in his pocket. A Summit Bank worker told jurors that Frazer's note stated that he had a gun and demanded $10,000, and police found a handwritten note by Frazer stating that in his car after his arrest.

Frazer got about $12,000 from two bank robberies, according to testimony. Some of the money, along with some Walgreens pill bottles, was found in his car when he was arrested after his final holdup.

Frazer had been accused of four bank robberies, and prosecutors showed photographs of him taken inside a fifth bank on the day of the Summit Bank robbery.

Frazer admitted that it was him in the picture, telling jurors that he had given up his plan to steal from that bank because he thought he'd drawn too much attention to himself.

Prosecutors dropped charges relating to allegations that Frazer had robbed the First Security Bank on Kavanaugh Boulevard, also on the day of the Summit Bank holdup, after defense attorneys presented evidence that a witness in that case had lied to the judge about violating a court order barring witnesses from talking about the case during the trial.

Prosecutors Leigh Patterson and Ashley Bowen said Frazer, a former bank manager, used his knowledge of bank security to develop a scheme of passing notes to victims while implying that he had a gun.

Metro on 09/30/2016

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