Tarkington

BACKGROUND

A. Trial In 2007, the People charged Tarkington and his codefendant, Darris Allen, with robbing a Bank of America branch located in a grocery store in Palmdale.

1. Prosecution Evidence at Trial During the jury trial that followed, witnesses testified that around 10:00 a.m. on December 14, 2005, three masked men entered the bank. One man’s mask was a nylon stocking covering his face; all three robbers wore gloves. Two of the men jumped over the counter and took money from the tellers’ drawers. The third robber remained in the lobby. One of the robbers used a walkie-talkie. The robbers took approximately $12,223 in bills and coins. Some of the bills contained “bank dye packs” that explode and spray red dye.

3 At approximately 9:00 p.m., following a routine traffic stop, sheriff ’s department deputies detained Tarkington and Allen approximately 60 to 70 miles from the bank. Allen was in the driver’s seat and Tarkington in the front passenger seat. Tarkington gave deputies a driver’s license with a false name. The deputies searched the vehicle in the dark using flashlights and found a bag containing approximately $3,138 in bills that were moist, red-stained, and…