Man gets 25 years for robbery, assault
Published 6:00 am Thursday, February 19, 2004
A Brookhaven man was ordered to serve 25 years in prison afterpleading guilty Wednesday to armed robbery and aggravated assaultcharges in connection with a November 2002 robbery of a localconvenience store.
Bruce D. Nelson, 33, of 906 Washington Ave., received a 30-yearsentence on the armed robbery charge and was ordered by Judge MikeSmith to serve every day of the first 25 years. The last five areto be served under post release supervision.
A 20-year sentence on the aggravated assault charge will runconcurrently the armed robbery sentence, the judge said. Aconspiracy charge was not prosecuted.
“That’s an acceptable outcome,” said Assistant District AttorneyDiane Jones following Nelson’s guilty plea and sentence.
Nelson opted to plead guilty Wednesday following jury selectionfor his trial. The trial was expected to have lasted two or threedays.
Nelson was indicted for his role in a Nov. 8, 2002, armedrobbery of the S&P Quick Stop on Main Street and aggravatedassault on store owner Hari Singh. Singh was shot in the neck andshoulder area during the robbery, Jones said.
In addition to the prison sentence, Nelson was also ordered topay a $5,000 fine and full restitution for Singh’s medical billsand unrecovered cash that was taken from the store. The totalrestitution had not been finalized Wednesday.
“We don’t have a calculated amount,” Jones said.