After an hour and a half of deliberation Wednesday, a federal jury found a 58-year-old Hixson man guilty of robbing a bank at gunpoint in January 2014.
The jury, which began discussions around 10:30 a.m., returned before lunchtime with the verdict: Dearl Dean Lawton was guilty on all counts of aggravated bank robbery, using a firearm during commission of a crime and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Lawton, whose trial began Monday, remained stone-faced as federal agents led him away from the courtroom. Afterward, while prosecutors and defense attorneys wheeled away their boxes of evidence, three of Lawton’s family members began to sob.
Prosecutors said Lawton brandished a firearm when he walked into the First Volunteer Bank on 5109 Hixson Pike on Jan. 31, 2014. Dressed in dark clothes, a dark hoodie, sunglasses and a mask that concealed most of his face, Lawton left with $2,641 after holding a bank teller at gunpoint. He was indicted on the charges in May 2015 and arrested around the same time, records show.
After the trial, Mitchell Carter, one of Lawton’s attorneys, said the 58-year-old probably will remain in federal custody in Bradley County, Tenn., until his June 22 sentencing hearing. Carter declined to offer further comment on the outcome.