They say crime does not pay. For Connie Murray Dumas of South Carolina, it only paid her $94. But it cost her 18 years.
Connie Murray Dumas was found guilty of armed robbery and possession of a gun during the commission of a violent crime. Dumas, 40, held up the One Stop convenience store in Rock Hill, S.C., just outside of Charlotte, and got away — temporarily — with $94 in cash.
The local TV station, NBC’s WIS-TV, reported that a witness described Dumas and her getaway car to the police, which led to her apprehension a short time later. The nail in Dumas’ coffin was that the security cameras showed her pointing a weapon at the clerk as she collected the money from the register.
At the precinct, Dumas signed an affidavit confessing that she robbed the spot because she was in dire financial straits and her home had been foreclosed on. Later, Dumas recanted her statement and during the trial said that it was her car keys and a cellphone, not a gun, that was captured on camera.
Dumas’ explanation did not work. Not only that, she has no chance for parole.
–terry shropshire
