Motions in the second robbery trial for Gary Saucy, 47, Joplin, will be held May 20 in Jasper County Circuit Court.
Saucy was sentenced to 17 years in prison on June 8, 2004, after being found guilty by a Jasper County jury. The Missouri Southern District Court of Appeals tossed out the verdict and sent the case back to be retried, saying the prosecution should not have combined charges of two different robberies against Saucy. Saucy was convicted of the July 12, 2001, robbery of B. J.'s Liquor Store in Joplin, but a mistrial was declared on the count which charged him with the July 6, 2001, robbery of the Dollar General Store.
During the Dollar General Store robbery, according to the appellate court opinion, an African-American man held a box knife to the neck of an employee and demanded that the employee give him his key. The employee was cut on the chin by the box knife. The employee and an assistant manager were forced to lay face-down on the floor and the robber left the store with approximately $400 in cash.
The employee could not identify the robber, according to the opinion. A third employee identified someone other than Saucy, even though the man who was identified turned out to have been in jail at the time.
Six days after the Dollar General robbery, B. J.'s was robbed at about 9 p.m. According to the opinion, an African American man bought two cigars and, after receiving his change, pulled out an object covered with white cloth and asked the clerk to hand over the money. "The clerk opened the cash register and then was told to lay face-down on the floor and surrender his wallet."
Oddly, the robber did not take the wallet, but left the store with $247 from the cash drawer. A surveillance camera recorded the crime. After the video was televised, the police received tips implicating Saucy. When Saucy was arrested, police found a box knife. They put Saucy's mug shot in a photo lineup, and he was identified by the clerk from B. J.'s Liquor.