FARMINGTON — A Franklin County justice declined Friday for the second time since February to lower bail from $5,000 for a Strong man accused of robbing the Big Apple on Farmington Falls Road on Dec. 21, 2010.
Miguel Visuano III, 27, is facing a top level felony robbery charge. He was expected to go on trial in March but there was a death in an attorney’s family and it was postponed to June. The trial was then postponed to October after there were not enough jurors to proceed.
Visuano is accused of going into the Big Apple on the Farmington Falls Road and robbing the store while wielding a small bat that had a chain attached to it, according to a Farmington police affidavit.
Franklin County Assistant District Attorney James Andrews opposed the lower bail. He listed several past convictions that included drugs and theft. When Visuano was indicted on the robbery charge, he was serving a one-year sentence on a terrorizing conviction in prison, Andrews said.
Visuano’s attorney, George Hess, said the state’s case rests on a co-defendant. He questioned the co-defendant’s credibility because, “she got a sweetheart of a deal,” and she will testify against him, Hess said.
Hess argued for $1,000 cash bail. Visuano has three children and believes he can get a job haying and then try to get a job he previously had back, Hess said. The trial has been delayed twice, and Visuano has been in jail on the robbery charge since he was released from prison in February, Hess said.
The cash bail of $5,000 is about right for a Class A offense, Murphy said, and she declined to lower it. She did pledge to get Visuano to trial as soon as possible.
Marcia Tracy, 28, formerly of Strong, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in February of receiving stolen property in a plea agreement with the state. A Farmington police affidavit said that Tracy was the driver of the get-away Jeep used in the Big Apple robbery.
The state dismissed the felony charge of robbery against her. She is awaiting sentencing.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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