ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man says he meant to get caught in November when he tried to rob a St. Joseph convenience store.

When the man asked the clerk to open the cash register and give him the money, the clerk refused — even after 43-year-old Roy Murphy offered to put on the camouflage ski mask he was carrying.

The St. Joseph News-Press reports Murphy was prepared to plead guilty Monday to second-degree robbery. But Circuit Judge Patrick Robb told him there was no threat of physical force, so he couldn't convict Murphy of the charge.

Murphy told the judge he doesn't know how to make it outside of prison and wanted to go back.

Robb accepted a lesser felony charge and sentenced Murphy to four years.

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