‘Old Fashioned’ Robbery Trial Ends With Acquittal

The corner of 205th Street and 116th Avenue in St. Albans, where Ronald Horton was robbed by two men in November 2016. The two defendants charged with the robbery were acquitted in Queens Criminal Court earlier this month. Photo via Google Maps

By Christina Carrega

A Queens jury acquitted two men who were facing up to 30 years in prison for a gunpoint robbery of a St. Albans man.

In November 2016, Ronald Horton was steps away from his home when two men armed with guns demanded he hand over his valuables.

Horton picked out Perry Pointer, 21 and Frederick Holloway, 20, in a lineup in December 2017, more than a year later, as the pair who stole his Rolex watch, BlackBerry cell phone, credit cards, car keys and cash.

After a jury heard all the evidence in Queens Supreme Court on Dec. 7, they quickly returned a not guilty verdict for both defendants to Justice Leslie Leach.

“What we have here is an old-fashioned, one-eye witness case,” Holloway's defense attorney Randall Unger told the Rikeon Dec. 5 outside of court.

Even though Horton pinned the crime on Holloway and Pointer, his descriptions after the incident and to the jurors did not match, according to trial testimony.

At least one of the alleged robbers was 5 feet, 6 inches tall, the victim said. Pointer and Holloway are both well over six-feet tall, according to court records.

Pointer, who was out on bail during the pendency of this case, had his bail exonerated and record sealed. His attorney Warren Silverman did not return calls requesting comment.

Despite the acquittal, Holloway remains locked up on Rikers Island for two pending cases — an armed robbery from October 2017 and a June 2017 illegal gun possession, according to court records.