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The Beverly Hills man will be sentenced next month for bursting into a woman's home and stealing pain pills.
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 30, 2002
INVERNESS -- It took less than 30 minutes for a Citrus County jury to find Nathan Bruce Parker guilty of invading the home of Barbara Meyer and stealing her Oxycontin pain pills.
Parker, 37, 27 N DeSoto St. in Beverly Hills, was charged with one count of home invasion robbery with a deadly weapon in the March 23, 2001, robbery.
Circuit Judge Ric A. Howard said Parker could face a maximum penalty of life behind bars when he is sentenced next month.
Parker was one of two men charged with barging into Meyer's Homosassa mobile home and threatening her with a knife. But his trial ended very differently from that of the other suspect, James Crace.
After about an hour and 20 minutes of deliberations, jurors acquitted Crace at his trial April 18. Questions were raised during the trial about Meyer's identification of Crace because she had difficulty picking him out of a photo lineup. Also, she testified that her assailant had brown eyes; Crace's are blue.
Crace's attorney, Paul Militello, also said there was a lack of physical evidence, a point Parker's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender James Viggiano, also emphasized during Parker's trial Monday.
Meyer told authorities that she received a telephone call from Parker, with whom she was acquainted, about 1:30 a.m. the day of the robbery. He said he was at a pay phone and had run out of change and needed to make some more calls.
Meyer agreed to let him use her phone. But as Parker was pulling up, two other men ran into her house and pushed her against her home entertainment center, she testified. Parker joined them, and the three began demanding her pain medication.
A third man has never been arrested or charged.
Meyer said she suffers from several illnesses, including arthritis and lupus, and takes eight medications to manage her pain.
Parker did not dispute that a robbery occurred, but he said that Crace and Crace's brother John planned it and carried it out while he watched helplessly.
Parker said he was at Meyer's mobile home to purchase one of her Oxycontin pills, which he said she regularly sold to him, when they were surprised by the two men.
On the stand, Meyer said she would never sell her pills, which she needs to combat her intense pain.
"I wouldn't do very good in jail," she said. "I'd never take the chance on getting into trouble."
Assistant State Attorney Paul Norville scoffed at Parker's version of events and questioned why he didn't attempt to stop the robbery. Parker is 6 feet 2 and weighs more than 300 pounds.
Parker was arrested two weeks after the robbery in Ohio. Norville accused him of trying to flee from the crime.
"He knew his goose was cooked, so he got out of town," Norville said.
-- Crime reporter Carrie Johnson can be reached at 860-7309 or cjohnson@sptimes.com.