STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Everyone was present Wednesday for the first day of trial in a Dec. 19, 2021 armed-robbery case — except the man facing charges.
Marcel Pridgen, 51, was indicted in January of last year by a grand jury on counts of first-degree robbery, criminal possession of a firearm, menacing and several others, stemming from the harrowing ordeal inside a Speedway Gas Station on the 2100 block of Forest Avenue in his Mariners Harbor community.
The defendant was in the building Wednesday at state Supreme Court, St. George, but informed the court he wanted to remain in the holding cell unless his mother was present in the courtroom.
His attorney explained to Judge Mario F. Mattei that after scouring the courthouse, she did not appear to be on the premises. Nor did there appear to be any other family or friends in attendance for the proceedings.
Mattei addressed the circumstances with the jury as part of a standard set of instructions prior to any criminal trial. He, in sum, explained that state law dictates they not allow a defendant’s absence to sway their decision in reaching a verdict.
The maximum sentence for a first-degree robbery conviction in New York is 25 years incarceration, based on multiple determining factors including a defendant’s possible criminal history and aggravating or mitigating aspects of the robbery.
QUESTIONS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH
When Pridgen was arrested in the robbery days later, police found two orange capsules concealed in his left sock which contained cocaine, the criminal complaint alleges.
After first denying the allegations when interviewed by investigators, he then confessed to the crime, authorities say.
“You will hear and see for yourself the defendant admit to robbing [the victim],” said Assistant District Attorney Melanie Sommer. And you will see and hear for yourself how the defendant walks the detectives through exactly how he did it.”
Weeks after the arrest, Justice Lisa Grey authorized a mental exam for Pridgen at the request of his then counsel.
“There’s a problem communicating at times,” defense attorney Michael Marino said at the time. “The family has alerted me to a history of mental-health issues.”
Ultimately he was found fit to stand trial.
Sources in other cases have said it is not uncommon for such individuals to be found capable of standing trial after receiving appropriate medication.
OPENING ARGUMENTS
Prosecutors say Pridgen spotted the young girl working alone on the night in question and quickly plotted his next move.
“[He] saw an opportunity and he took it,” Sommer said.
The suspect was seen fleeing the scene in a white Dodge Durango, which police allege was the same vehicle Pridgen was driving at the time of his arrest. The victim later identified Pridgen in a photo lineup.
Defense attorney Matthew Mobilia countered with questions about the accuracy of a two-part identification process days after the incident, used to arrest his client.
On the night of the incident, a police canvass of the area, which included helicopters overhead, yielded no arrests. Days later, said Mobilia, an officer spotted an unidentified man walking on Forest Avenue who he thought matched the suspect’s description based on the surveillance footage which the defense deemed “pretty grainy”— then followed him home to establish an identity.
“Some would say [the officer] went above and beyond,” or, continued Mobilia, it could be considered a “little vigilante.”
Most important though, he argued, is a document that shows the victim told police the suspect was wearing tan Timberland boots and a black sweatshirt, when the video shows the alleged gunman was wearing a green hooded sweatshirt and black shoes.
When asked on the stand Wednesday about the description she offered to investigators, the soft-spoken shift manager, who wore black framed glasses and well put-together in appearance, said she didn’t recall that conversation.
‘HE FOLLOWED ME,’ VICTIM RECALLS
The 22-year-old victim was working alone at the cash register inside the Speedway where the stickup unfolded, surrounded by more than a dozen surveillance cameras.
The footage shows a man in a mask and gloves enter the store, then turn around in what prosecutors say was an attempt to lock the front door.
The cashier approaches him from behind to “tell him to leave the store,” at which point she spotted the trigger and the handle of the gun. She took off running toward a back room, but the man gave chase and forced his way into the room with her.
According to the victim’s testimony, he pulled down his mask and pointed the gun at her stomach.
“He said he wanted to ‘take all the money in the safe,’ but I have to call for the codes,” she said.
When two more customers entered the store, the suspect said he would settle for what was in the register. The video then shows the man escort the alleged victim from the back within view of a man in an Amazon uniform whose standing at the counter.
The victim is seen handing over a wad of cash, which amounted to a few hundred dollars, then throwing her hands up — all within about a foot of the customer — as the suspect heads for the exit.
She testified that her boyfriend, who she was FaceTiming at some point during the robbery, dialed 911.
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