Micah Donovan sentenced to 7 1/2 years for bank job

Micah Donovan, 23, of Laconia was sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison and ordered to pay $9,870 in restitution in United States District Court yesterday for his part in the armed robbery of Franklin Saving Bank in New Hampton in February 2007.

Donovan, who last August pled guilty to conspiring to rob the bank, aiding and abetting his brother Corey with the robbery and possessing a firearm in furthering a crime of violence, is the first of the four conspirators charged in the crime to be sentenced. The other three — Corey Donovan, Ian Burns and Jay Lawrence — have all entered pleas are are awaiting sentencing.

Corey Donovan committed the robbery, riding a snowmobile and armed with a semi-automatic carbine, while Burns, carrying a similar weapon, waited at a meeting site. Micah Donovan kept surveillance at the bank before the robbery and gave his brother the all-clear signal as well as provided ammunition for both rifles.

After the robbery the group went to Lawrence's mobile home in Meredith where they left the snowmobile, divided the proceeds and destroyed a back pack Corey Donovan carried to and from the bank. Later Micah Donovan burned the boots and disposed of the camouflage clothing worn by his brother.

Prior to sentencing, attorney Paul Garrity, representing Micah Donovan, urged the court to impose a five year sentence. In a sentencing memorandum, he pointed out that Donovan's father was shot to death when the boy was only two and, with his mother struggling with drug abuse, he was placed in foster care a year later. Eventually he was adopted by his aunt and uncle. His uncle's death when he was 17, Garrity wrote "led to the defendant's life spiraling out of control." Donovan dropped out of school and began using drugs. On the day of the robbery he was using methamphetamine.

Despite Donovan's drug abuse, Garrity told the court his participation in a crime of violence "is remarkably out of character." Those who know him, he said, consider him "a hard working, quiet, gentle natured, young man devoted to his family," especially his two young children. Donovan's prior criminal record consisted of substance abuse and motor vehicle offenses. Since his arrest, Donovan obtained his GED, completed computer classes, a drug and alcohol program, a course on violence and started a class on life skills.

Burns and Lawrence are scheduled for sentencing later this month and Corey Donovan in July.