Sparks flew in the county courthouse Monday morning when prosecutor Deborah Medved was accused of withholding findings that may have kept Sargent Binkley from facing a 12-year sentence for armed robbery.
Two weeks ago a jury found Binkley — a 33-year-old Army veteran who robbed a Mountain View Walgreens for pain killers three years ago — guilty of the crime, and of using a gun during the stick-up. Binkley now faces the state’s 12-year minimum sentence for armed robbery.
But on Monday a criminologist for the district attorney, Chris Corpora, testified that after reviewing more than 100 images captured by a security camera, he never did see Binkley holding or pointing a gun at pharmacy employees, contradicting arguments made by the DA during the trial. He added that he had told the prosecutor this before trial proceedings, which Medved denied.
“If an attorney knows something to be true they cannot suggest otherwise,” said defense attorney Chuck Smith. “It’s an ethical obligation.”
Medved did not return phone calls by press time.
Despite Corpora’s testimony, the judge on Monday denied a motion for a retrial. Binkley therefore still faces the 12-year prison sentence, and this week the jury heard testimony from psychiatrists as to whether Binkley was legally insane during the crime. If so, he would qualify for a shorter sentence in a state hospital.
During the trial, Medved suggested that surveillance camera images showed Binkley pointing a gun, casting doubt on key witness testimony from Walgreens pharmacist Dennis Pinheiro, who had said Binkley was calm, courteous and did not point a gun at him, although an unloaded handgun was present during the robbery.
In order to be convicted of armed robbery, Binkley had to be holding the gun in a “menacing” way, defense attorneys say.
The suggestion by the DA “was very damaging to his case,” said defense attorney Ed Fernandez.
“Her expert,” Smith said, speaking of Corpora, “at great risk to his own career, testified that he did tell her there was no gun in that or any other picture.” He added that when another deputy district attorney cross-examined Corpora, “She tried to hatchet him and get him to say he was wrong, but he stood by his guns.”
After Corpora’s testimony, it became clear that the unloaded gun was either on the counter or at Binkley’s side during the robbery. His gloved hand may have looked like a gun in the footage, defense attorneys say.
Last month the jury spent four days deliberating on the verdict, indicating that there may have been some disagreement — and a possibility that the verdict could have been different with Corpora’s testimony.
“Opinions are evidence,” Fernandez said.
Psychiatrists testify
On Monday the jury began hearing testimony from six court-appointed psychiatrists. Two say Binkley was legally insane during the crime, while four say he was not.
In opening statements, Medved said the jury would have to figure out whether Binkley was just another drug addict turned robber.
“Drug addiction is not legal insanity,” Medved said.
Up first was Dr. Leonard Donk, who concluded that Binkley was sane during the crime because he followed a clear plan: Binkley wore a mask, wrote out a list of pain killers, arrived at 2 a.m. when few witnesses would be around, parked his car in a getaway position and left by the rear exit.
However, Donk would not go as far as to say that this indicated that Binkley knew “right from wrong” during the incident, only that he was aware of “consequences.”
Donk said he spent eight hours interviewing Binkley last year, because he thought “a lot was at stake” for those involved, “including society.” He said he believes that Binkley suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, despite the DA’s contention that Binkley was never in any traumatic situations during his military service and that the defendant had embellished or made up stories about traumatic situations.
Binkley, who grew up in Los Altos, served as an Army Ranger in Honduras. While there, he says, he killed a young teenager while guarding a marijuana field during a covert drug raid. Donk said the incident deeply troubles Binkley.
Binkley also served in Bosnia, and says he was assigned to guard a mass grave there.
Testimony during the trial from commanding officer Michael Wood indicated there were in fact covert drug raids out of Binkley’s base in Honduras, but Wood claimed Binkley didn’t shoot anybody.
Defense attorney Smith said the officer would never had admitted to such a killing, “because if he had, it would have been a big international incident.”
“I don’t know why in the world somebody would get on the stand and say ‘I murdered somebody’ — when it didn’t happen,” Smith said.
Donk said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Army was trying to cover up what Binkley had done, and remained convinced that Binkley suffered from PTSD.
“He had PTSD or a multiplicity of reasons,” Donk said, adding that his becoming a robber was also traumatic for him. “It keeps you depressed. Addiction has to be addressed — then therapy can work.”
Binkley also told Donk that he witnessed a Honduran military commander shoot three of his own men “gangland style” right in front of Binkley. The commander then told Binkley that it was “none of his business.”
Binkley’s psychological history was on display for all to see. The Los Altos High School athlete began drinking regularly at 16 and, as a result, got into a few fights, Donk said, which was typical of his social scene. It was evidence of some “antisocial” personality features, Donk said, but not evidence of Binkley being a violent person.
“I don’t think he’s a sweetie pie,” Donk said.
Binkley’s addiction to pain killers began after a hip injury, which went undiagnosed for years. He got the injury in Honduras while running away from a man who attacked him, apparently for picking up on a woman while he was enjoying time off on a beach. Binkley stepped into a hole as he ran down the beach, causing the injury, Smith said.
The pain from the injury lasted for years, and Binkley became hopelessly addicted to pain killers, his parents say, adding that special equipment was needed to find the fracture. But Donk said Binkley passed on chances to have his hip treated because he wanted to “play soldier some more.”
“Those were his words,” Donk said, adding that Binkley was talking down to himself when he said it.
Delaying medical treatment was evidence of Binkley’s “self-defeating” personality feature, Donk said, though he also said it could have been the behavior of an addict hoping to continue a pain killer prescription.
Binkley was discharged on DD214 from the service in 2001 and lived in an apartment in Los Angeles. He suffered from paranoia, and was medicated for it, Donk said. He maintained an arsenal of weapons in his apartment. Binkley felt a sense of “impending doom.” His girlfriend left him and his friends and brother became distant.
“He had significant sleep problems,” Donk said, “four years of insomnia. He used to stay awake to avoid the dreams and racing thoughts.”
“He was fearful he would die if he didn’t get his meds,” he added.
Besides the Mountain View robbery in January 2006, Binkley robbed a Walgreens in San Carlos two months later. He eventually turned himself in.
Defense attorney Fernandez hoped the jury would come to this conclusion: Binkley “did not consider right and wrong, it was just a matter of survival.”
E-mail Daniel DeBolt at ddebolt@mv-voice.com
