Yesterday, David Vance, 34, from Chicago was sentenced to life in prison for the fatal shooting of bank teller Tramaine Gibson during a bank robbery at the Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan on the city’s south side on May 22, 2007. Vance robbed the ISF Bank located on Martin Luther King Drive of $6,875 with two co-defendants. The co-defendants, Alton Marshall, 34, who testified against Vance, and Henry Bluford, 35, both of Chicago, each pleaded guilty to the bank robberies and, under the terms of their plea agreements, are expected to receive sentences of 20 years in prison when they are sentenced on April 17 and 24, respectively.
According to government testimony, Vance jumped the teller counter and “killed Gibson in his cold-blooded pursuit of the money in the bank vault.” He confronted Gibson, who was unarmed, and demanded that he open the vault, which he was not even able to do. Vance shot Gibson at close range and then dragged his bleeding body toward the bank vault. A security guard and a customer were also shot during the robbery. Because the murder occurred during a bank robbery, the judge ruled that the life sentence was required regardless of whether Vance intended or not to kill Gibson.
Vance was also convicted of robbing the Cole Taylor Bank located on East 63rd Street in Chicago of $11,438 on May 10, 2007. U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall imposed the mandatory life sentence and a mandatory consecutive sentence of 32 years for Vance’s use of a firearm during the robberies and shooting. There is no parole in the federal prison system.
Although no funds will every be recovered, the Judge ordered mandatory restitution of nearly $1.2 million that includes restitution to the banks, as well as funds for the security guard’s disability and the estate of Gibson, who was 23 when he was killed.
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