Yahoo News has reported that a detailed love letter written by a career criminal, explaining how he robbed a bank and evaded police, was used against him by prosecutors to gain a conviction.
Convicted bank robber R.M. was able to overpower two Cook County state's attorney investigators in 2009. R.M. got their guns, and one pair of pants, before he made his escape on foot.
For the next 27 hours R.M. went on a crime spree throughout the suburbs of Chicago. While authorities searched, R.M. used the stolen guns to carjack two separate vehicles, and then robbed a bank.
R.M. was found guilty of five escape, bank robbery and weapons counts on January 9.
After his capture, R.M. penned a letter to his girlfriend, L.B., telling her about his scheme until police caught up with him.
R.M. wrote, "What does one say to the person you love most at the end of yet another failure? I had a plan so thorough, so elaborate, so enticing, so...I won't tease you with it now. Got my getaway $ Friday (20 hours behind schedule) from a vault in Bloomingdale! All I needed was a car that wasn't being looked for by an army."
In the bank's surveillance video R.M. is not brandishing a gun, however, he told the bank teller that he had one. R.M.'s attorney, Anthony Sassan, hoped that this question, as to whether R.M. actually had a gun or not, would help him with the charges.
Following the verdict Sassan told reporters, "We thought there was a real question on whether he did have a gun when the bank was robbed. "We were confident as we could have been that they would come back with a non-guilty on that."
R.M. led police on a high-speed car chase before he crashed and was arrested.
The love letter also detailed his planned escape: "I only needed to step foot out of Illinois; got beyond the reach of the hunt that was underway. I tried darling. I gave it my best attempt."
According to reporters, prosecutors claimed that the evidence of the love letter helped them gain a conviction.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Annie Kastenek told reporters, "He was telling numerous people he came into contact with that he was the escapee on the run. He seemed to think in his own mind that he was this legendary criminal."
R.M. faces up to 43 years of prison time for his previous crimes and carjacking while he was on the run, according to reporters, in addition to his existing federal convictions.
With prison time now being unavoidable, R.M. finished his letter by writing, "I'm sorry if you were humiliated by me (L.B.). Forgive me please. For everything. For hurting you like I have. I will be an old man when I come home. 58, 60, 62, 70. I almost succeeded (L.B.). Please remember that. I was really close."
In a final note, alongside the margin of the handwritten missive, R.M. asked if L.B. could send $100 to the jail for him.
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