A young Stafford County man has been cleared of charges connected to a Sept. 27 robbery in North Stafford.
Marshall Lynn Albritton Jr., 20, was found not guilty of robbery and multiple other charges by a jury last week in Stafford Circuit Court.
Albritton had been charged in connection with an incident in the 400 block of Oakridge Drive. According to police, two men in their early 20s were relaxing on a patio when three men jumped a fence and confronted them at knife-point.
The robbers forced the victims into the home, then helped themselves to various items while keeping the knives pointed toward the victims.
Albritton and two other young men were subsequently arrested as the result of Detective Barry Surles’ investigation.
One of the codefendants, Daquan Dawkins–Horne, testified that Albritton was with him when the robbery was committed.
The two victims also identified Albritton as one of the robbers.
Defense attorney Benjamin Burchett attacked the credibility of the prosecution witnesses and presented witnesses of his own—including a minister—who placed Albritton elsewhere at the time of the robbery.
Burchett pointed out that Dawkins–Horne had incentive to lie against Albritton.
He pointed out that Dawkins–Horne only had to serve 20 days for his role in the robbery and attributed the lenient sentence to his willingness to testify in Albritton’s case.
Burchett said the victim’s testimony was equally not credible. One of them admitted on the witness stand that he sold drugs and that drugs were taken in the robbery.
In initial reports to police, the victim said nothing about the drugs, Burchett said.
Among the defense witnesses was a minister who recalled borrowing headphones from Albritton and seeing him playing basketball on the afternoon that the robbery took place.
Despite being cleared, Albritton remains in the Rappahannock Regional Jail. He is still charged with a probation violation stemming from his arrest in the robbery that he has now been cleared of.
A bond hearing is scheduled for May 17 and a trial is set for June 7 in Stafford Circuit Court.
The third man charged in the robbery, Elijah Felton, has not had his trial yet.