Former Santa Rosa police officer Robert "Steve" Starling spent his second day on the witness stand Wednesday trying to refute the claim of a confessed accomplice that he had carried out a series of armored-car heists with a real handgun.
In testimony earlier this week, Andrew C. Esslinger, 27, said he believed Starling had used a 9mm handgun in two solo robberies in Santa Rosa before they met in mid-2008, and in three robberies they staged together last year in Rohnert Park, Novato and Sebastopol.
In the latter three, Esslinger, who was recruited as a watchman, said he saw Starling pack his handgun into a black duffel along with a cell phone and other equipment he would use in the robberies.
Esslinger later testified that from his vantage point outside the banks in Novato and Sebastopol he never saw Starling commit the holdups. In the third, outside a Rohnert Park Bank of America, the pair aborted the robbery before it began.
In testimony Wednesday, Starling sought to bolster his claim that in each of the robberies — which he admits to committing — he used a Sig Sauer Airsoft pistol and not his 9mm handgun. He said he used the pellet gun because it wasn't traceable and he knew that if he were caught it would mean less prison time.
Starling, 36, also repeated for jurors how he used police voice commands and knowledge of armored-car companies' deadly force policies to ensure no one got shot.
"The only person that I put at risk in these robberies was myself," he said.
Starling is charged with four armored-car robberies from 2007 to 2009. He's also charged with making false 911 calls to divert police in Novato and in the aborted heist in Rohnert Park.
He faces about 40 years in prison if convicted of the 10-count complaint.
He has conceded his part as mastermind and triggerman in the robberies which constitute the major charges against him. But in an attempt to shave years off any prison sentence, his testimony and his attorney's opening statements have challenged a trio of charges:
-- that the Novato incident was a robbery and not a failed attempt;
-- that he used a real gun in the robberies;
-- that he threatened to kill a friend who declined to participate in the robberies.
On Wednesday, Starling said an Airsoft pellet gun presented in court was nearly identical to the weapon he used in the holdups and said he later destroyed.
He also denied ever threatening his friend and former pot-growing partner Daniel Sullivan, who he tried to recruit as a watchman before bringing on Esslinger.
"I knew he would never turn me into the police," Starling said of his trust for Sullivan.
Starling was a police officer for Santa Rosa and Sonoma State University between December 2000 and July 2006. He later worked briefly as a Brinks armored-car courier, making up to 50 deliveries a day in the Santa Rosa area.
Investigators said the techniques used in the heists, including the use of disguises and diversionary tactics meant to keep police occupied, later hinted that the robbers had some knowledge of police training.
Starling and Esslinger were arrested in August after the FBI traced cell phone calls made during the Novato robbery.
Esslinger has pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for his testimony. He faces six years in prison.
Deputy District Attorney Marianna Green is scheduled to begin her cross-examination of Starling Friday. Closing arguments in the two-week trial could also come Friday, Green said.
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