Convicted robber loses appeal of La Crosse holdup case

Arguments about tattoos and security videos have not persuaded a Wisconsin appeals court to overturn a conviction for a La Crosse holdup. 

Damario Graham’s conviction for the 2016 armed robbery at a Rose Street loan office has been upheld by the appeals judges, ruling that Graham did not prove complaints about his defense attorney.

Graham is serving a seven-year prison term for stealing $87 at gunpoint from the Wisconsin Auto Title Loan company in 2016. 

The judges say there may have been mistakes by the defense over certain evidence, but Graham does not show there was prejudice resulting from a mistake. 

Graham is African-American and has tattoos on his arms, but a surveillance video of the crime did not seem to show any tattoos on the robber’s skin. 

The appeals judges say Graham didn’t challenge police testimony that tattoos on darker skin are not always visible on security videos. 

A second man implicated in the robbery has never been captured.