harpoflower1.jpg
Harpo, an English bulldog puppy that was stolen in a 2012 armed robbery and returned to its owners a few days after the crime.
(Patricia Steele)
The defendant should expect the worst.
That much was made clear from the first.
The judge's words were dire.
You sir, she said, are a liar.
JaJuane Deshawn Etheridge went to trial on robbery, theft and gun charges last week before Clackamas County Circuit Judge Susie Norby.
He was accused of stealing an English bulldog puppy at gunpoint from a retired couple.
On Monday, Norby found Etheridge guilty of robbery, theft, unlawful use of a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Jajuane Deshawn Etheridge
The evidence against Etheridge, 24, was overwhelming. The victims, retirees James and Patricia Steele, breed dogs at their rural Clackamas County home. They agreed to meet Etheridge at Clackamas Town Center on the afternoon of Oct. 19, 2012.
Etheridge pointed a silver 9mm handgun inches from James Steele's head and said he would not hesitate to kill the couple. In broad daylight. In the mall parking lot.
Patricia Steele told Norby that the incident left her paralyzed with fear. She stopped driving, rarely left home and stopped allowing strangers to visit.
"We never lived in fear before," said Patricia Steele, a retired nurse.
Etheridge fled with a $2,000 puppy named Harpo. But James Steele had jotted down Etheridge's license number.
The recently purchased gun belonged to Etheridge's girlfriend at the time, Elizabeth Shaw, who purchased it for protection. He gave the puppy to Shaw as a birthday gift for her daughter.
Shaw, her daughter and Etheridge were watching television when they saw a story about the crime. Shaw called the cops and, after a three-hour standoff with a SWAT team, Etheridge surrendered.
Norby found Etheridge's defense to be preposterous.
Etheridge claimed he was set up and was not at the mall that day. He said he encouraged some friends to get a dog that he could sell to his girlfriend, Shaw. When the friends told Shaw, she gave them the gun and suggested using it in a strong-arm dog robbery, Etheridge testified.
Investigators found one of Etheridge's fingerprints on the gun, his car parked near Shaw's apartment and the stolen puppy stuffed in a suitcase when they searched the apartment.
Etheridge also claimed he was not the person who signed the purchase agreement with the Steele's on the day of the robbery.
"We do not have ... any reasonable alternative explanation for the many incriminating circumstances that converged against him," Norby said.
She noted that in taped jailhouse phone calls, Etheridge put "relentless pressure" on Shaw to not cooperate with police, to deny knowing the dog was stolen and not to testify against him.
Etheridge insisted that some of the damning jailhouse calls -- in addition to the calls cited by prosecutors Rusty Amos -- be introduced as evidence, ignoring the advice of defense attorney Linda Beloof.
"The inescapable conclusion from the many phone calls and the absurdity of the defendent's testimony on the witness stand is that (Etheridge) will tell any lie, to anyone, at any time, to try to get out of the consequences of his actions," Norby said.
"He claims this was a setup," Norby said, "but a setup with the degree of detail and perfect execution involved in this case is impossible to imagine."
At one point, Etheridge shook his head "no" as Norby spoke, earning the judge's ire.
"Don't shake your head at me, you lying ...," said Norby, leaving the sentence unfinished.
Just before announcing her verdict in the stolen-puppy case, Norby summarized the case with a bit of doggerel.
"You lied and lied; I can't put that aside.
It was your car; you went too far.
You hid the pup; the jig was up.
You got rid of the gun; your game is done."
Etheridge will be sentenced on Aug. 1.
-- Steve Mayes