State v. Lane

Appellant Virgil Richard Lane was charged and convicted of the crime of armed robbery and with being an habitual criminal, the latter charge in part depending upon the validity of the robbery conviction.

The evidence showed that at gunpoint appellant Lane robbed a Seattle Safeway Store of over $1,200. By happenstance, one of the three eyewitnesses to the robbery recognized Lane several days later at a local hamburger drive-in. The eyewitness took the license number of the car Lane was driving, followed the car to an apartment house and then notified the police. Shortly thereafter, in the early…