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Inmate convicted in more robberies
He pleads guilty to 10 counts that occurred at time of other crimes
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Published: November 3, 2009
A Winston-Salem man, already serving 55 years in prison for a string of robberies in 2005, has pleaded guilty in connection with another string of robberies committed during that same period.
Donovan Duren, 38, pleaded guilty yesterday to 10 counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon and five counts of possession of a firearm.
The robberies occurred between July 30 and Sept. 6, 2005, according to Assistant District Attorney Jim O'Neill.
Judge Judson D. Deramus of Forsyth Superior Court consolidated the charges to five counts of armed robbery and sentenced him to about 49 to 63 years in prison, to be served at the same time as his current sentence of 55 years.
"This ensures that the defendant will, in all likelihood, die in prison," O'Neill said after the hearing.
A Forsyth County jury convicted Duren in October 2008 of a series of robberies in which Duren shot victims who did not give him money. In one of the robberies, he shot the owner of a dry-cleaning store after the man was slow in giving Duren money.
Duren had been charged with 13 robberies or attempted robberies. Prosecutors tried him on charges connected with seven of the robberies last year. He was scheduled to stand trial this week for the remaining six robberies.
He also has a co-defendant, Errol Lawrence, who said he helped Duren scout robbery locations and choose victims. His case has not gone to trial yet.
O'Neill said Duren robbed people over several months in 2005 at gunpoint, including a construction worker and a couple who had just arrived in Winston-Salem.
Police matched two bullets recovered in separate robberies to a gun found under a sofa cushion in Duren's house on Sept. 8, 2005.
That day, a police task force trying to catch Duren came across his car at a gas station near the intersection of Reynolda and Shattalon roads. The car matched a description of the getaway car used in the robberies.
Duren sped off after police told him they were investigating robberies in the area. Officers chased him first in patrol cars, then on foot, after he was spotted in his neighborhood.
He stopped when he heard Detective Mike Poe, one of the officers chasing him, pump a 12-gauge shotgun, Poe testified last year during the trial.
Duren apologized yesterday and told his mother, who was sitting in the courtroom, that he loved her.
"I am saved today and all is well within my soul," he said.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
727-7326
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