By Brad Kellar
Commerce – Guilty pleas have been entered in connection with the robbery of a Commerce restaurant. Two cousins, Arenza Von Hawkins and Justin Aaron Harper-Smith, of Commerce, waived indictments, arraignments and trials by jury during a hearing Wednesday. They each then entered open pleas, which mean no potential sentence in the case had been offered or arranged. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19. Reports indicate Hawkins and Smith entered the Chicken Express restaurant, where Smith used to work, in May, 2008 and held three employees at gunpoint. The two then made off with money from the cash register.
Click the MP3 icon to listen as KETR's Greenville Correspondent Brad Kellar reports.