Watts sentenced to life in prison for fatal attempted bank robbery in Cairo

A man who stabbed three bank employees, leaving two of them dead in an attempted bank robbery in Cairo, Illinois, was sentenced Thursday in federal court to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

U.S. District Judge J. Phil Gilbert sentenced James Nathaniel Watts, 32, in federal court in Benton, Illinois.

Watts pleaded guilty in March to attempted armed bank robbery that resulted in death and illegal possession of a firearm. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

Watts was sentenced to life in prison on the most serious charge and another 10 years on the firearms charge.

He also was ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 as well as a special assessment of $200.

As part of sentencing, Gilbert approved a motion from federal prosecutors George Norwood and James Cutchin to withdraw the death penalty.

Anita Grace of Olive Branch, Illinois, and Nita Smith of Wickliffe, Kentucky, died as a result of the attempted robbery, which occurred May 15, 2014, near closing time at the First National Bank in Cairo.

Smith died at the scene. Grace died after she was transported to a hospital, according to court documents.

Watts, wearing a pillow case on his head, met Grace, Smith and another employee, Kaeley Price, in front of the bank after it had closed, according to evidence Norwood presented in federal court in March.

Watts bound each victim's hands with zip ties but momentarily released two of them in an attempt to open the vault, Norwood said.

They were unable to open the vault because it was sealed with a time lock and could not be opened until the bank opened the next morning, Norwood said.

Watts then took all three victims into the bank's break room, where he inflicted knife wounds on them, Norwood said.

Price was critically injured but survived, Norwood said.

Some of Watts' interactions with the three victims outside and inside the bank were captured on surveillance footage, Norwood said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

First National Bank, Cairo, Ill.