Jurors acquitted a Vancouver man Thursday afternoon of being an accomplice to an alleged robbery and shooting at a local apartment complex.
The panel of six women and six men considered whether Nathan J. Gadberry, 37, was an accomplice to first-degree robbery and first-degree assault in connection with an incident at the Red Haven Apartments, 1304 N.E. 88th St., the night of Jan. 21.
After deliberating nearly three hours, jurors acquitted him of the charges.
The case was tricky, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Alan Harvey said afterward, as Gadberry was not the one who pulled the trigger, nor was he the one who committed the theft.
“Accomplice liability is always a difficult thing to educate jurors on,” Harvey said. “There are always alternative conclusions people may have.”
Gadberry said he had gone to the apartment to meet a woman. That’s when he interrupted the alleged robbery, he said.
Prosecutors said he was one of three men who confronted the victim, David D. Jones, about money they maintained he owed one of them for methamphetamine.
During the confrontation, the prosecution alleged, the men demanded that Jones give up his watch and wedding ring because he didn’t have money to pay for the drugs. The men allegedly struck him, and co-defendant Armando Castillo-Munoz allegedly pistol-whipped Jones, then shot him in the hand.
The Clark County Superior Court jury rendered its verdict just before 4 p.m. after a four-day trial.
Gadberry testified Wednesday, claiming he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and had no part in the holdup. In his closing argument, Harvey said few other witnesses supported Gadberry’s claim.
Harvey said, instead, witnesses reported that Gadberry grabbed Jones by the face, saying: “Why did you make us come find you?” He then allegedly struck him in the face.
About all three men: “They were prepared to do whatever it took to get that property,” Harvey said.
But Gadberry’s attorney, Gregg Schile, challenged the consistency of the state’s witnesses. The victim and another man present had said that Castillo-Munoz was holding the gun with his left hand, while a doctor testified that Munoz likely used his other hand.
Schile also said evidence indicated the gun belonged to Jones, which Gadberry had asserted, and that the men simply had been involved in a fight.
“He gave the most detailed knowledge of the gun” in his trial testimony, Schile said.
The cases of co-defendants Castillo-Munoz and Andrew Wright are pending in Clark County Superior Court. Castillo-Munoz has a trial date of June 20 and Wright is set for trial on June 6.
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
