Guilty verdict for armed robber who killed Reno bank patron


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RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal jury has convicted an armed robber who killed an 80-year-old bank customer during a holdup in Reno in 2013.

Van McDuffie, now 68, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison after he was found guilty in U.S. District Court Thursday of bank robbery with a dangerous weapon resulting in death.

A longtime criminal with 62 arrests dating to 1967, McDuffie also was convicted of using a firearm during a crime of violence causing death.

Federal prosecutors say he fled with $13,000 after he fatally shot the customer who told him to "get out of here" during the robbery at a Bank of America branch on South Virginia Street in October 2013.

The victim, Bob Sperry, was a Vietnam veteran who served 24 years in the U.S. Marines.

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