[06/18/03]A Vicksburg man was convicted Tuesday of armed robbery, but cleared of two other charges that stemmed from action after his arrest.

Kenneth Dewayne Carter, 28, 1235 W. Magnolia St., was also accused of injuring and trying to escape from Vicksburg Police Sgt. Adarryll Dent while Carter was in handcuffs after being arrested for a Jan. 22 armed robbery at Payless Shoe Source, 1500 Clay St.

Circuit Judge Frank Vollor set Carter’s sentencing for June 27. He could receive up to life in prison for the armed robbery conviction, and five additional years for weapon possession as a felon.

“Put the money in the box,” store employee Retha Clark testified Carter demanded after approaching the counter with a box of shoes and then threatening to shoot her with a pistol, which he held hidden by the box’s lid.

Manager Linda Lewis, who was also in the store that night and testified that she helped Clark open the cash register, identified the 9-mm pistol Carter was accused of using.

“I was wondering whether or not I was going to die that night,” she told jurors.

In the brief time before county and city law-enforcement officers arrived, Carter took about $48. Before he could leave the store, however, Warren County Deputy Sheriff Andy Webb, Dent and Vicksburg Police Sgt. William Combs had him disarmed and in handcuffs.

It was then that Carter, from a sitting position on the floor of the store, tried to escape, the three officers testified.

Carter “began to struggle to try to escape,” Assistant District Attorney Mike Bonner said in his closing argument Tuesday of the trial, which began Monday morning. “Adarryll Dent had to grab him. He was injured when the defendant kneed him in the groin.”

Carter was also accused of kicking Dent, who said he suffered a cartilage tear in his leg that caused him to miss work for over a month. He said he continues to take an anti-inflammatory medication for the tear, from which he may not be fully recovered for another 18 months.

After Carter had been resubdued and was riding to the police station in the back of Dent’s car, he turned sideways and, with both feet, kicked out a side window of the car and tried to escape through it, getting his head and shoulders outside, Dent said.

He was charged with armed robbery, possessing a concealed weapon as a convicted felon, simple assault on a police officer and escape from confinement.

The jury that convicted him Tuesday did so on the armed robbery and weapons charges and found him not guilty of the assault charge. On the escape charge, Vollor granted a request from one of his attorneys, Alfred Rhodes, that the jury be instructed to find him not guilty of the escape charge since at no time was Carter able to completely escape the custody of officers.

Attorney Josie Mayfield Hudson also accompanied Carter in the courtroom, but he conducted much of his own defense, presenting his own opening argument and questioning the state’s witnesses on cross-examination.

“It may be that he’s guilty of armed robbery, but after the armed robbery it appears that there were some other things added on because we now have this individual” in custody, Rhodes said during the closing argument for Carter.

The jury deliberated for about 35 minutes before returning its verdicts.

“He’s a long-time criminal,” District Attorney Gil Martin said, adding that Carter’s history included crimes “of violence and drug use. It’s the kind of case you need to treat seriously.” Carter’s prior felony conviction Bonner cited in the trial was for robbery in 1991.

Martin also said Dent and Combs “did an outstanding job to disarm him the way they did. They should be proud of it. It was a very difficult tactical situation.” Both officers have specialized training for handling such situations, Bonner said.

A 15-year-old who was walking past the store to a nearby donut shop used his cell-phone to make the first report of the crime, while it was in progress, he testified. Testimony was that Webb, who said he had just left the sheriff’s office downtown, arrived first and waited for Dent and Combs, who were also nearby, to respond before the three entered the store.