Little Mistakes Add Up in Bank Heist

In an L.A.-based legal magazine, columnist Charles Sevilla ran an excerpt of the testimony of a bank robbery suspect who was disappointed by the small amount he netted. The suspect said his partner later told him that the holdup note “was messed up and instead of asking for hundreds and fifties, they asked for ones and fifties.”

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MAYBE HE WAS SAYING, “WE’RE NO. 1”: Sevilla, whose “Great Moments in Courtroom History” column appears in the magazine of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, also recounted the following testimony from another case:

Q: Do you recognize the driver of that vehicle in court?

A: Yes, I do.

Q: Could you point and identify where he’s sitting and something he’s wearing?

A: The defendant is sitting right there waving his middle finger at me in a blue smock.

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WHILE WE’RE AT IT: Jerry Martz wonders which side of the Atlantic a certain salad originates from (see photo).

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WHAT WAS THE NAME AGAIN? Mysteries still unsolved as the 1900s draw to a close:

* Orange County Nursery is based in Santa Fe Springs.

* Hollywood Park is in Inglewood.

* Westwood One Radio Networks is in Culver City.

* The Whittier Law School is in Costa Mesa. (Bet you can guess the small city where it used to be located. Yup, Los Angeles.)

* Beverly Hills Transfer & Storage is in Gardena.

* Hawaii Theater is in the city of Industry.

* Brooklyn Bagel Co. is in L.A.

* Pomona College is in Claremont.

* The Bellflower Neon Sign Co. is in Artesia. And its sign off the 91 Freeway is not neon.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.