Man convicted in Kaldi’s Coffee robbery in downtown Columbia

A Boone County jury convicted a Fulton parolee of first degree robbery Wednesday afternoon for the October 2013 robbery at Kaldi’s Coffee in downtown Columbia.

Fifty-year-old Anthony Paine will be sentenced on Dec. 21. He faces a sentence of 10 to 30 years in prison. Jury selection began Wednesday morning in Columbia. The jury heard from three witnesses. The jury deliberated about 40 minutes Wednesday afternoon before returning with the verdict.

“This happened in a parking garage where he approached her and was brazen enough to just go up to her and demand money and get out a gun and press it top her stomach, and that’s really scary,” Assistant Boone County Prosecutor Andrea Hayes said. “So I hope it sends a message to anyone that we didn’t have a gun and it didn’t matter to this jury. He was found guilty of robbery in the first degree.”

Kaldi’s Coffee in downtown Columbia was robbed at gunpoint Oct. 4, 2013. Columbia police released surveillance photos after the robbery, and Paine was arrested a few weeks later in St. Louis. Hayes relied on the testimony of Kaley Gann, the victim. Gann told the jury of ten men and two women that Paine approached the back door of the coffee shop, located in the Cherry Street Garage, after she let a co-worker in to open the store. When Gann told him the store was not yet open, she said he pointed a gun at her, demanding money.

Surveillance video from the store showed Gann leading him into the office of the store, and her handing him around $200 from a safe.

Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board revoked Paine’s parole after his arrest for the Kaldi’s robbery, and Paine has been incarcerated since then at the Jefferson City Correctional Center.

Paine’s attorney, Matthew Mueller, told the jury that the surveillance video didn’t show Paine with a gun. Police also did not find a gun at his home in Fulton, nor did St. Louis police find a gun on him when they made the arrest. The defense asked for a stealing charge rather than a robbery charge, admitting it was Paine seen in the video.

Paine’s wife, Dawn Paine, said she had several doubts about the fairness of the trial, including the lack of a weapon shown at trial. She also questioned the use of an all-white jury.

Hayes said the lack of a weapon at trial made it more difficult to make the case, but thought the video showed enough to convince the jury.

“They’re not as clear as we would like them to be, but what it did do in this case was it helped corroborate that there was a gun in regards to his movement,” Hayes said. “He was adjusting the area of his pants where she indicated he had put a gun. So I think that little bit on the video did help corroborate that Kaley was telling the truth today and that she was being honest with her testimony.”

Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman David Owen confirms Paine has 12 previous felony convictions. Owen tells ABC 17 News Paine has been paroled from Missouri prison five times.