MEMPHIS, TN – Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons announced Friday that a West Memphis, Arkansas man had been convicted for forcing at gunpoint a Memphis man into his South Bluffs home, tying up the man and his wife, then robbing the couple last summer.
The jury found Johnny Tate, 52, guilty as indicted on all charges including two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary. Tate faces mandatory life in prison without parole as repeat violent offender when he is sentenced by Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee on October 17. Tate has multiple previous convictions for violent felonies.
On July 28, 2007, Tate approached the male victim who was standing outside his home, demanded money, then forced the victim into his home where he and his wife, both of whom are in the 70’s, were bound and forced to lie on the floor. For at least an hour the house was ransacked and at one time Tate held a gun to the man’s head. Several items were taken from the house, including credit cards, jewelry, and the couple’s sport utility vehicles.
A co-defendant in this case, Brenda Robinson, also of West Memphis, awaits trial and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
Aggravated robbery is a charge covered under the D.A.’s “No Deals” policy on violent crimes. Exceptions are made to the policy for legal and ethical reasons.
Assistant District Attorney David Pritchard prosecuted this case. |