A Baltimore City man accused of violently robbing a Clarksville bank customer and leading police on a high-speed chase was misidentified as the robber, and really was just an innocent passenger in the getaway car, his defense said Tuesday.
Antoine Skipwith, 31, is charged with armed robbery and assault in connection with the September 2007 robbery of a car wash employee who was making an after-hours deposit at the Clarksville Citizens National Bank.
The robber pistol-whipped the victim, took the bank bag containing more than $860 and fled police in a stolen Dodge Stratus at speeds of 90 mph before crashing on Route 32. The driver and the passenger bailed out of the car.
“The driver did get out of the car and commit this robbery, but the state is wrong that Mr. Skipwith was involved,” said defense attorney Janette DeBoissiere, who argued that co-defendant Joseph Fields was the driver who committed the robbery.
“[Skipwith] had no knowledge of the robbery. … He was in the car, and he did run from police, but that doesn’t make him guilty of robbery. … If this was a planned robbery with both parties involved, the passenger would have gotten out of the car and committed the robbery, while the driver stayed in the car for the getaway.”
But prosecutor Lynn Marshall showed the jury and Howard Circuit Judge Lenore Gelfman a bank surveillance tape Tuesday that clearly showed a man wearing a striped shirt robbing Clarksville Car Wash employee Joseph Marsiglia about 5:30 p.m. Sept. 15 outside the bank’s night depository.
That striped shirt, which police later found, contained Skipwith’s DNA, she said.
Marsiglia testified that he and his co-worker Charles Kent, who was with him during the attack, identified the suspects after police apprehended them in a Clarksville neighborhood.
He said he did not say which suspect was the robber.
Both suspects, who had cornrow-styled hair, had removed their shirts and were wearing jeans, Marsiglia said.
Kent testified that he identified Skipwith as the driver who committed the robbery and pointed to him in court Tuesday to confirm his identification.
The trial is expected to conclude by Thursday.
