A man who tried to rob a Speedway gas station in Durango before fleeing in a stolen vehicle to Kansas in 2020 was sentenced Friday to six years in prison.
In addition to prison time, Donald Labarr, 34, must serve three years of parole in connection with a crime spree that involved a robbery and attempted robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, and theft of a handgun in violation of a protection order prohibiting him from having firearms. He received another six-year sentence in Montrose County for the same crime spree.
His six-year sentence in the 6th Judicial District is to be served simultaneously to his Montrose sentence.
At about 9:25 p.m. Aug. 23, 2020, Labarr entered the Speedway gas station at 901 Camino del Rio in Durango and flashed a handgun he had tucked into his waistband, according to an arrest affidavit.
A gas station attendant thought Labarr was joking when the man demanded money from the register. But then he noticed the black butt of a handgun when Labarr lifted his shirt, according to court records.
The attendant told officers he felt more angry than threatened, and he told Labarr that he couldn’t give him money from the register. Labarr left the gas station empty-handed and remarked that the gas station attendant should have “voted Democrat,” according to court documents.
The gas station in Durango wasn’t Labarr’s first stop that day.
About 20 minutes before Labarr hit the Speedway in Durango, he robbed the Speedway near Hermosa, about 10 miles north on U.S. Highway 550.
And about two hours before that, Labarr had successfully robbed the Golden Gate Gas Station in Montrose, the affidavit says. Labarr used the same approach of demanding money from the gas station clerk and flashing his handgun.
After failing to rob the Speedway in Durango, Labarr fled in a vehicle. He was arrested by a Kansas state trooper the next day, on Aug. 24, 2020, driving 117 mph. He subsequently confessed to the robberies. Labarr was extradited to the Montrose County Jail. He appeared Friday in 6th Judicial District court by video link.
In the days after Labarr’s attempted robbery at the Durango Speedway, officers learned about Labarr’s criminal history, which includes a felony conviction for possession or use of drug paraphernalia in Prescott, Arizona, and felonious custodial interference, or taking a child without the legal custodial rights to do so.
Labarr’s defense lawyer on Friday said his case was pending for “quite some time” because he was waiting on competency proceedings; after two evaluations, Labarr was diagnosed with major depressive disorder as well as bipolar disorder. She said manic depression combined with “other factors in his life” played a role in his criminal history.
“Manic episodes are associated with poor decision-making, argumentative behavior and even violence,” his defense lawyer said.
Labarr has been prescribed medication, she said. He was hoping for a community corrections sentence in his Montrose hearing but was denied that and was sentenced to six years in prison instead.
Labarr has already served 635 days, or nearly two years, for which he will receive credit toward his prison sentence.
He declined to make a statement Friday.
cburney@durangoherald.com
