Penn Has Aggravated Charges Bound To Grand Jury In $11 Holdup On E. 12th Street

Speaking through an interpreter, an Hispanic man testified Tuesday that Trevonte Penn told him, "Give me money or I will kill you" in a robbery outside his home.

Charges of aggravated robbery were bound to the Grand Jury against the 19-year-old Penn following the preliminary hearing in General Sessions Court.

Judge Gary Starnes bound it over after an assistant public defender argued the charge was not valid.

Penn allegedly held Urbano Perez at gunpoint on East 12^th Street on Nov. 8, 2015.

Mr. Perez said three other people were with Penn in a car the day of the robbery. Only Penn got out of the car and confronted him as he was walking to his front door.

Mr. Perez said he did not have any money in his wallet, so his wife, who was inside the house with her and Mr. Perez’s four children, gave all the money she had to Penn, which was $11.

Penn took the money, got back in the car with the three other people, and left.  

During the hearing the robbery victim identified Penn, who was standing near him in an orange Hamilton County Jail uniform, as the offender who held him at gunpoint. 

Prosecutor Cameron Williams asked Mr. Perez if he called the police after Penn left.

He said one of his children called the police, but could not understand the operator.

When the police did not show up at the scene of the crime, Mr. Perez called them himself and they came.

In the days following the robbery, Mr. Perez said he was shown about 10 photos of possible suspects. From the photos he picked one out as the defendant, Penn.

He said he was shown the photos all at once.

Attorney Blake Murchison asked Mr. Perez, “Did the police tell you the black guy that you saw was in those pictures?”

He then made the argument that since the defendant stole the money from Mr. Perez’s wife, the charge of aggravated robbery against Mr. Perez did not hold.

In response to the public defender’s argument, Prosecutor Williams said the case with Mr. Perez was similar to that of someone going into a convenience store, holding the cashier up at gunpoint, and stealing money from the cash register. Though the money did not come directly from the cashier, the offense would still be considered an armed robbery. 

Mr. Perez’s wife was not present at the hearing.

It was stated the case should be handled by the Grand Jury within the next 30 to 60 days.