EPHEDRINE THIEF'S PRIOR FELONY RAISES LIFE SENTENCE POSSIBILITY

Final arguments are set for 9 a.m. today in the robbery trial of a
Midland man who attacked an Albertsons Food & Drug Store employee
while trying to escape from the store with the ingredients to make
methamphetamine and now faces a possible life sentence.

Midland Police Department Officer Chris Earp testified Monday in
238th District Court that Charles Vernon Snodgrass Jr. "was fighting"
store manager Scott Harris and four other employees of the 3317 N.
Midland Dr. store when he was called there at 8 a.m. last March 29.

"Was Mr. Snodgrass was still trying to leave the scene?" asked
court-appointed defense attorney Ray Fivecoat.

"Yes, he was still punching and kicking," Earp said, adding that the
25-year-old suspect was being held down in the foyer between the
inside and outside doors.

Harris had earlier told the two-man, 10-woman jury in Judge John
Hyde's court that the defendant knocked employee Frank McBride away
and ran with a large amount of Sudafed when McBride asked, "Are you
going to pay for that?"

"I saw several associates running and there was a gentleman on the
floor when I reached them near the south door," said Harris. "Jerry
Salazar was holding him around the waist and Mr. McBride had him by
the feet. There were seven packages of Sudafed on the floor."

Harris said it is not Albertsons' policy for employees to restrain
shoplifters physically, but it became a self-defense matter when
Snodgrass hit McBride. "If there is contact made, it is usually safer
to maintain control of the person," he said.

Harris said McBride suffered a possible angina attack after Officer
Earp handcuffed Snodgrass and left with him for Midland County
Central Detention Center. He said McBride drove himself to the
Midland Memorial Hospital Emergency Room and returned to work two days later.

Snodgrass has been incarcerated since then in lieu of a $25,000 bond.

Assistant District Attorney Dave Watson said robbery is a
second-degree felony, carrying a possible sentence of two to 20 years
in prison. But because Snodgrass was convicted in 1998 of assaulting
a peace officer in Aurora, Colo., his indictment was enhanced to a
first-degree offense for which he could serve five to 99 years or
life if found guilty, said Watson.

Snodgrass did a term in Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City.

Sudafed contains the cold remedy ephedrine, one of the main
ingredients needed to "cook" methamphetamines. Harris said customers
were limited to the number of packages they could buy when Snodgrass
was arrested, but a new state law now requires the medicine to be
kept in a locked cabinet.