Jury takes cue from 'CSI' with holdup note

After finding evidence, they convict Fayetteville suspect
Associated Press
Published on: 10/12/07

LaGrange � A man was convicted of trying to rob a west Georgia bank after a jury discovered the impression of a holdup note that the prosecution was unaware of.

Darius K. Heard, 29, of Fayetteville was sentenced Thursday to 16 years in prison for attempted robbery, fleeing officers and reckless driving.

A co-defendant, Reamon D. Mapp, 25, of Austell, was sentenced to 10 years after pleading guilty to attempted robbery, fleeing officers and possession of cocaine.

Heard was convicted of an April 11 robbery attempt at the RBC Centura bank in Hogansville after jurors at his trial found the outline of a holdup note pressed into the blank pages of a notebook that was seized from the car in which he and Mapp were arrested.

When the two were stopped after a high-speed chase, police found two partially written notes on the vehicle's center console. One read, "This is a robbery so don't panic because if you do you could put," and stopped in mid-sentence. The other note said, "This."

A notebook on the floorboard contained only blank pages, but when jurors examined it during deliberations they could see indentations of a complete holdup note.

Senior assistant district attorney Lynda Caldwell had been unaware of the indentations. After the conviction, she held the notebook at an angle and could see a note that appeared to read, "This is a stickup. Don't panic or you could put the life of your teller in danger. I won't hesitate to kill. 20's, 50's, 100's. Please! Thank you."

Caldwell was amazed by the jurors' discovery.

"They took it upon themselves to look at the notebook and decipher the indentations, and it was a completed note," she said.

The article

[This article made me smile because it reminded me of one Christmas as a kid when I found a blank pad of paper in our kitchen which, when held just right, revealed the impression of my parents' complete list of Christmas gifts for me and my brothers. Ah, good times ...]

[This message was edited by Shannon Edmonds on 10-15-07 at .]