Santa Rosa jewelry store holdup trial hits snag

An Oakland man representing himself in the botched 2014 robbery of a Santa Rosa jewelry store suggested a defense Monday of involuntary intoxication but refused to provide evidence or call his subpoenaed witnesses.

At the time set aside for Jimmy Lee Terry, 45, to put on his case, the man with a long criminal history expressed frustration in getting his own blood test results and announced his plan to “keep my mouth shut” for the remainder of the trial.

“You all can do whatever you all want to do,” Terry told Judge Dana Simonds and prosecutor Mark Urisote as the jury and defense witnesses waited outside the Santa Rosa courtroom. “I have nothing to say.”

The latest twist in the unusual trial came after Terry said Friday he planned to call more than 25 witnesses to the holdup at Bennett Valley Jewelers.

Terry and another man, Johnny Tasker Douglas, 36, also of Oakland, are accused of attempting to rob the store, at gunpoint, of expensive Rolex watches. However, police said their plan was foiled by the store’s co-owner, who emerged from a back room with his own gun and shot both men, and an employee.

The dramatic scene in which Terry is accused of using a store clerk as a human shield was captured on video.

Terry, who faces life in prison if convicted, announced earlier this year he would be his own lawyer. He changed his mind after the trial was underway but was denied a request for a court-appointed attorney.

Trial watchers said Terry seems to be laying the groundwork for an appeal. On Monday, the prosecutor accused him of playing “some kind of game,” to support that strategy.

But Terry said, “It’s not a tactic. It’s real. I’m not going to say nothing.”

Asked by the judge why he would pass up the chance to defend himself or call witnesses, Terry cited difficulty in receiving blood evidence from the hospital that treated him as well as undisclosed missing statements.

Terry said he had a friend who was once drugged at a party and suggested he wanted to see his own blood results to determine if he had been somehow intoxicated.

At the prosecutor’s request, Simonds dismissed the jury and witnesses for one day so Terry could have time to reconsider his approach. She ordered them back Tuesday morning, at which time Terry can mount a defense or rest his case. Deliberation would begin soon after any closing arguments.

“I ain’t going to waste you all’s time anymore,” Terry said. “I’ll be quiet and keep my mouth shut.”

In Sonoma County, Terry is among a small handful of criminal defendants who serve as their own lawyers during a trial, court officials said.

It’s happened twice in the past two or three years, said Jose Guillen, the court’s executive officer.

“Judges try to dissuade them but there are always a few who say, ‘No, I want to take this case to trial,’” Guillen said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 707-568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.