Prosecutors rest after detectives describe photo lineups; state witnesses will be recalled in James Ross aggravated robbery trial

SAN ANTONIO — Prosecutors rested Monday after detectives told a Bexar County jury they investigated an alleged June 1 aggravated robbery at JC Alterations and used photo identifications to identify a suspect.

Detective Kevin Landrum of the San Antonio Police Department's Night Criminal Investigations Division testified he responded shortly after 7 p.m. to the business listed in report SAPD25110099, spoke with three people who gave consistent statements and showed one witness a single photo that she initially identified as the suspect. Landrum said he later prepared an arrest-warrant affidavit and forwarded the case to the follow-up/robbery unit for filing.

Royce Vasquez, a robbery detective assigned the next day, told jurors he reviewed Knight CID's reports, obtained a six-photo lineup from central records and presented it to the primary witness, Miss Janice Jones. "She picked James Ross," Vasquez said. Vasquez also described a voluntary, on-the-record interview with a man who identified himself as James Ross; the detective said that man was free to leave and denied pointing a gun at the victim.

The defense highlighted a subsequent discovery that an earlier single-photo identification had matched a different James Ross who had been arrested in custody, an error the follow-up unit later recognized. Landrum testified he only learned that the first arrest involved the wrong James Ross during the follow-up investigation. "I found that out today, sir," Landrum said when asked if he had learned the misidentification only recently.

The defense also introduced a silver credit-card wallet as Defense Exhibit 1 and asked witnesses whether such an object, held and presented at close range, could be perceived as a firearm. Under live demonstration, detectives agreed the metal wallet could look like a pistol at certain angles and distances. Vasquez said the witnesses at the scene were adamant they believed a firearm had been used.

During cross-examination, the defense pressed investigators on why the Night CID unit received the call after a "gap" period, whether other detectives were contacted earlier, and why the charge was aggravated robbery when no gun was recovered and no property was taken. Landrum and Vasquez testified they had recorded statements, sought corroboration and prepared probable-cause affidavits that a judge later approved.

After the state rested, defense counsel asked the court to recall several individuals the state had called earlier, including Janice Jones, Bethany Dawn Smith and Alyssa/Alisa Ramirez, and identified Twanda Mundy as another potential witness. The court instructed the State to attempt to make those witnesses available and allowed a short recess.

The judge told jurors they had heard all the evidence and warned them not to seek outside information. The court scheduled its reading of the jury charge and any closing arguments for 9 a.m. tomorrow.

The trial record shows the following next steps: the State has rested; defense indicated it would call witnesses and later closed; the jury will receive the court's charge beginning at 9 a.m. on the next court day.

Questions about who held or displayed any object at the scene, exact wording of lineup prompts and the timing of the initial single-photo identification were central to defense challenges during testimony. Several evidentiary objections during witness examination were sustained as hearsay or leading, and the court repeatedly instructed witnesses and counsel about the limits of admissible testimony.

The case remains before the 187th District Court; jurors were excused for a short break at the close of Monday's session and ordered not to discuss or research the case outside court.