Boy Key Witness to Botched Robbery, Shooting : Courts: Prosecutor says 9-year-old will identify man accused in attack on armored van driver in Garden Grove parking lot.

As trial opened Wednesday for Mark Anthony Blount, who is accused of shooting an armored van driver in a botched robbery, the prosecutor disclosed that the key identification will be made by a 9-year-old boy.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Arnold Westra told jurors in Orange County Superior Court that several witnesses will describe various aspects of the May 16 robbery that left Wells Fargo driver John Statkus badly wounded. But of all the eyewitnesses, only the boy was able to positively identify him as the gunman from photographs, Westra said.

Blount is charged with attempted murder, kidnaping for the purposes of robbery, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

Defense attorney Paul Stark admitted in his opening remarks that Blount and two accomplices, Gilbert O. Green and Thomas A. Chaney--who face trial Dec. 2--planned to rob Statkus of the $15,000 or $20,000 they anticipated he would be carrying as he serviced automatic teller machines. But he told the jury that they did not plan to hurt Statkus or take the money in the van.

“Things didn’t go properly,” Stark said.

He said the evidence will not show that Blount fired the gun. He also said the boy failed to select Blount as the gunman when police first showed him the pictures. He did not identify Blount until a week later, Stark said.

Statkus, 25, was hospitalized for more than three months after being shot in the head and neck. His doctors say the former Marine is making an amazing recovery after many surgeries. He still requires rehabilitation.

Detailing the morning of the shooting, Westra said Chaney, a recently fired Wells Fargo courier, and Green followed Statkus--who was making his rounds alone--to the La Habra office where Statkus received his instructions and security codes for the day. They trailed him as he left on his rounds, watching as he replenished one ATM with cash, Westra said.

They made their move at Statkus’ second stop, a 7-Eleven store at Chapman and Magnolia avenues in Garden Grove, Westra said.

Statkus had serviced the ATM inside, then returned to his van and opened the door. Customers and employees will testify that they saw Blount grab Statkus from behind, hit him on the head, push him into the van, climb into the driver’s seat and back up the van, Westra said.

But security codes that Statkus had not yet deactivated cut off the van’s engine after only 20 feet, the prosecutor said.

Witnesses will testify, he said, that as Statkus lay in the van, Blount got out, and “before departing, he turned, pointed (a gun) and fired.” Blount then allegedly ran and was picked up by Green, who was driving the getaway car with Chaney inside.

Green, 22, and Chaney, 28, both of Ontario, were arrested there a few hours after the shooting, based on license plate numbers provided by several witnesses. The .25-caliber gun used to shoot Statkus has never been found. But when Blount was arrested in Las Vegas a couple of weeks later, he had Statkus’ .38-caliber gun, Westra told jurors.

Just after the shooting, Blount’s mother told police who came to her home that her son had called and admitted that he might have killed someone, Westra said. When his mother put him on the phone with police moments later, Blount told them the shooting was an accident.

But Stark said that while Blount acknowledged “a certain feeling of responsibility,” he maintained during that conversation that he had not fired the weapon. In addition, Stark said, Blount told another person that Chaney or Green had fired the shots.