ROCK HILL, S.C. — A 62-year-old grandmother was too shaken to speak out in court Tuesday against the man who held a knife to her and robbed her nine months ago.
Danny Brown, 59, said he heard voices in his head telling him to rob the woman as she was walking through a breezeway to work.
Brown plead guilty, but mentally ill, to robbing the woman at knife point.
The incident happened about 8 a.m. July 13 in an alley off Main Street.
After he took the victim's purse, it didn't end there, said Assistant Solicitor Ryan Newkirk.
"He ordered her at knife point to walk with him to an ATM at the Wells Fargo to make a withdrawal," Newkirk said.
The woman feared for her life and told Brown to take anything he wanted.
A woman jogging by heard a scream and started asking Brown questions.
She threw her keys at Brown which allowed the victim to get away.
Brown ran across Main Street, where he was arrested inside Rock Hill City Hall.
Brown said he thought it was the Police Department.
"I ran to the Police Department to turn myself in," Brown said.
The victim was in court as well, but was too upset to speak.
"If she were to come up here, it's her fear that she would cry and be unable to address the court appropriately," Newkirk said.
Mark McKinnon, Brown's public defender, said in 2016, Brown's family urged him to stop taking his medication for schizophrenia.
At the time of the robbery, he was homeless and sleeping on a park bench. He said he couldn't stop the voices in his head.
The guilty, but mentally ill, plea allowed both sides to agree on a sentencing range of 12-20 years. The judge sentenced Brown to 17 years in prison.
Brown already has two previous armed robbery convictions from 1998. He served 13 years of a 15-year sentence for those crimes.
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