Tim Ryan tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
A Gillett woman accused of robbing a Shawano grocery at knifepoint last year was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison shortly after a jury found her guilty of the crime.
Brenda S. Webster, 57, will also have to serve five years on extended supervision following her prison time, under the sentence handed down by Judge James Habeck.
Webster told the court she wanted to be sentenced immediately rather than have a pre-sentence investigation done, after the jury convicted her on felony counts of armed robbery and using force to intimidate a victim, as well as misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct.
Webster was accused of entering the Guerrero Grocery, 520 S. Main St., shortly before 6 p.m. on June 27, 2014, wearing a black ski mask and threatening the store owner with a steak knife.
The criminal complaint alleges Webster took a money bag from the store containing about $4,000, but neither the money nor the steak knife were ever found by authorities.
Over the course of the two-day trial, jurors heard the store proprietor’s account of the incident through a Spanish-speaking interpreter, as well as testimony from witnesses who said they saw Webster fleeing the scene.
One witness testified she followed Webster for several blocks before losing sight of her and then spotting her again. She said Webster had changed clothing somewhere along the way.
According to the criminal complaint, Webster was spotted by another witness dumping clothes into a garbage bin.
Police later found dark-colored clothing, shoes, a pair of white socks and a blue glove in the garbage bin, according to the complaint.
In closing arguments, Webster’s attorney, Raj Kumar Singh, took issue with the fact that no DNA evidence was presented to prove his client had been wearing the clothes that police found in the garbage, and he challenged the credibility of the woman who said she followed Webster after seeing her fleeing from the store.
It took the jury less than an hour to return a verdict.
Maricela Perez, who runs the grocery store owned by her daughter, addressed the court through the interpreter at Webster’s sentencing.
“I would like to tell this lady that I am very sorry for the problem that is happening today,” she said. “I work hard and I don’t harm anybody, and I never expected that anybody would harm me.”
Several family members spoke on Webster’s behalf at sentencing, describing her as a good person who took up nursing to care for her mother, and a trustworthy woman who was devoted to the children she raised on her own.
Her daughter, Serena Webster, went further, tearfully casting doubt on Webster’s guilt and the jury’s verdict.
“Where’s the knife and the money? Where’s the case?” she said. “I don’t think it was fair at all.”
Shawano-Menominee County District Attorney Greg Parker had asked the court for a stiffer sentence of 15 years in prison and 10 years’ extended supervision.
“I just can’t understand why somebody would go in and victimize people who work hard, and work hard for a living every day,” he told the court.
Parker cited Webster’s previous criminal history, which included retail theft, burglary and issuance of worthless checks. She was also accused of armed robbery in Oconto County in 2012, but that case was dismissed.
“She’s a thief,” Parker said. “She’s a robber. She’s a burglar, and worst of all, she hurt somebody while she committed these crimes.”
Singh argued that Parker was essentially recommending life behind bars for Webster, given her age. He asked the court for a minimum sentence.
“What would a longer sentence accomplish?” he said.
In her statement to the court, Webster apologized to Perez and the court and suggested her drug dependency played a part in her actions.
“I am a drug addict,” she said. “I have been for many years.”
In a statement after the sentencing, Parker thanked the witnesses who helped find Webster and have her taken into custody after the incident. He also credited Shawano police for their quick response to the incident and their subsequent investigation.
He called Webster’s prison sentence “a substantial period of time for the protection of the community.”