A 12-person jury found a transient man guilty of second-degree burglary, an incident where he was found by police inside Vancouver’s Key Bank on June 28.
The trial against Stanley L. Frazier, 58, with no fixed address began on Wednesday and ended Thursday when a jury of seven women and five men convicted Frazier of the crime.
Vancouver police surrounded the bank, 714 Main St., when the bank’s security company notified 911 that a man was walking around inside.
State law defines second-degree burglary as unlawfully entering or remaining in a building with the intent to commit a crime.
Frazier’s attorney Susan Stauffer argued that Frazier hadn’t meant to be in the bank after hours – he had gone into the bank about 4:30 p.m. and went into the men’s bathroom and passed out. When he woke up, he triggered the cameras when he tried to leave, she said.
“We have an unfortunate situation of an elderly man having some medical issues,” she said to jurors Thursday morning. “He fell asleep and was locked in a bank.”
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Patrick Robinson argued that Frazier’s actions of being in the building after hours, and further taking food from an employee break area, proves he committed the crime.
“This is not the crime of the century, it’s not the worst thing to happen in our town,” he said. But he urged the jurors to hold Frazier accountable and find him guilty of the crime he was accused of. “The fact that he’s in the bank after hours means he’s there unlawfully,” he said.
Jurors deliberated for about an hour and a half before handing up their decision.
Frazier is scheduled to be sentenced for the crime, a class B felony, on Sept. 10, 3:30 p.m.
