Jurors convicted a Vancouver man Thursday afternoon of being an accomplice in an alleged robbery and shooting at a local apartment complex.
After deliberating for an hour, the panel rendered guilty verdicts for first-degree assault and first-degree robbery against Andrew A. Wright, 38, in connection with an incident at the Red Haven Apartments, 1304 N.E. 88th St., the night of Jan. 21, said Senior Deputy Prosecutor Alan Harvey.
Wright was among three men accused of confronting the victim about money they claimed he owed one of them for methamphetamine.
Wright’s co-defendant, Nathan Gadberry, was acquitted May 12 by a different jury of the same charges. Both men were charged as accomplices to defendant Armando Castillo-Munoz, who has a trial date of June 20.
Sentencing is set for Monday. Based on his extensive criminal history, Wright faces between 20 and 26 1/2 years in prison, Harvey said.
The four-day trial took place in Clark County Superior Court Judge Barbara Johnson’s courtroom.
Through his defense attorney, Suzan Clark, Wright had contended a similar defense as Gadberry’s: Wright didn’t deny going to the apartment, but he said he wasn’t part of the robbery.
But Harvey presented a taped jail conversation to jurors in which Wright is heard asking his brother to get rid of a stolen ring.
Prosecutors say the 34-year-old victim told investigators that he had received 12 grams of methamphetamine from Wright in November, worth $300, which he hadn’t yet paid for.
When he couldn’t pay for the meth, investigators said Castillo-Munoz demanded the man give him his watch and wedding ring because he didn’t have money to pay him for the drugs. He handed them over.
According to investigators, Castillo-Munoz then allegedly struck the victim in the head with a handgun, as Wright punched him in the face. Castillo-Munoz then allegedly shot him in the hand, according to the affidavit.
The man had a friend drive him to Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital for treatment of lacerations to his head and a wounded finger, according to court documents.
