Man who robbed Springfield bank found not guilty by reason of insanity

A convicted murderer, charged with robbing the Citizen’s Bank in Springfield last year, was found not guilty by reason of insanity Friday by a federal judge in Burlington.   Photo by Alice Page

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2016-10-15 / Front Page Man who robbed Springfield bank found not guilty by reason of insanity By MIKE DONOGHUE BURLINGTON — A convicted murderer, charged with robbing the Citizen’s Bank in Springfield last year, was found not guilty by reason of insanity Friday by a federal judge in Burlington. Andrew Lawrence, 64, now faces having a mental evaluation at a federal institution to determine if he is a danger to himself or society. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss ordered Lawrence taken to a federal facility and examined by doctors for up to 45 days. She said she would allow a 30-day extension upon showing good cause. Reiss said she found “by clear and convincing evidence” that Lawrence was not guilty by reason of insanity for the crime. There was little doubt Lawrence did the robbery, court papers show. Lawrence waived his right in September to a jury trial and agreed to allow Reiss on Friday to hold a bench trial to determine whether he was not guilty by reason of insanity. Lawrence’s lawyer did not contest the robbery, but instead maintained he was insane at the time of the robbery, court records show. Lawrence was sitting on the sidewalk outside the bank in the Springfield Shopping Plaza when Officer Anthony Moriglioni responded at about 10:17 a.m. July 10, 2015, Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Fuller said in court papers. A bank teller, Karin Pronseti, said she was slipped a note by the robber demanding money. It said “this is a robbery, loose bills only.” Pronseti described the bandit for Moriglioni, Fuller said. The description matched the man outside and Pronseti went outside and confirmed it was the robber, Fuller wrote. Moriglioni said when he confronted Lawrence, he was unable to remember what happened inside the bank or coming to the bank, records show. Bank video also showed him at the teller’s window as it was being robbed, Fuller said. The bank said it thought he got $280 in the robbery and a search warrant executed on his clothes uncovered $281, records show. Dr. Robert Johnson, a licensed psychologist, checked Lawrence on Aug. 3, 2016 and said the defendant “possessed a mental disease or defect which impaired his overall ability to appreciate the nature, quality or wrongfulness of his behavior at the time of the offense,” Fuller said in court papers. Federal Public Defender Michael Desautels said in court papers that doctors reported Lawrence suffers from schizophrenia and evidence showed he had failed to take all his medications. Lawrence had served about 25 years of a life sentence for fatally shooting his wife in 1989 in Greenwood, South Carolina, records show. He was granted parole and allowed to move to Chester in 2014. Vermont authorities initially charged Lawrence in state court with the robbery, but it was quickly moved to U.S. District Court. Lawrence pleaded not guilty Aug. 4, 2015 to the federal charge of bank robbery by force. U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Conroy ordered Lawrence detained pending the outcome of the case. Following the bench trial Friday, Lawrence was returned to the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.