Nearly a year ago, Elijah Rowland was involved in an incident resulting in a loss of nearly $2,000 from the KFC in West Bend. He was initially charged with armed robbery, facing decades prison.
During a Wednesday hearing, the charge of armed robbery was amended to receiving stolen property. The hearing was initially scheduled as the second part of a motion hearing to suppress an admission.
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The charge of possessing a firearm as a felon was dismissed and read in as was a charge from Milwaukee, which was related to the matter.
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Ultimately, the defendant was sentence to a year and six months in prison, followed by an additional two years under supervision. A part of his supervision requires that he not have contact with any KFC in Washington County.
Rowland has already served 324 days in the Washington County Jail and that time will be applied to his prison sentence.
The story doesn’t reveal the details, but this is the reason that the ADA gave:
The ADA and Judge James Muehlbauer both notedseveral times that though armed robbery is serious, this case was different and potential legal problems surrounding the collection of the admission allowed for the amended charge.
I take from that that there was something wrong with his confession and the ADA is worried about losing on appeal. OK, fine. Let’s remember a bit more about this case.
Police have arrested a 25-year-old Milwaukee man for allegedly robbing a West Bend Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant at gunpoint last week. Elijah Rowland approached an employee who was closing the business Thursday, February 9th. He showed a handgun and demanded money. He was arrested Tuesday. Rowland was previously convicted of a felony outside of Wisconsin. He is being held in the Washington County Jail and is due back in court next Wednesday.
So Rowland is a repeat felon who committed an armed robbery. Clearly, there was enough evidence at the scene (video? witnesses?) to identify him and arrest him. Yet, because the ADA is worried about his confession, they slap him on the wrist? Why not actually prosecute the case? At the very least, why not also prosecute him on being a felon in possession of a firearm? If they prosecuted the case, he would spend about the same amount of time in jail – maybe more – than he will now EVEN IF HE IS ACQUITTED!
Instead, we have a violent repeat felon who will be back on the streets in 6 months. Instead of going to prison for many years, he will be out and able to prey on the public by summer.
It’s a little late for my RightWisconsin predictions, but I’ll throw this one in: Elijah Rowland will commit another violent crime. There will be more victims of this predator. Let’s hope that next time he doesn’t injure or kill someone.
If I remember correctly, he was also claiming that the KFC manager was in on it. This would seem to fit with the receiving stolen property charge. The ADA may have been worried that a jury would believe his story and find him not guilty of armed robbery if he charged that.
But even if you think a jury might buy that the manager was in on it, he was still a felon in possession of a firearm. ‘Course, this fits the pattern for gun crime charges in general – they get bargained away unless they are the only charge.