(Download) "United States v. Jones" by United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: United States v. Jones
- Author : United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- Release Date : January 13, 1991
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 53 KB
Description
Posner, Circuit Judge The defendants were convicted of bank robbery. Only one issue, raised by only one defendant, merits discussion -- whether for purposes of sentencing the judge properly classified Dan Jones as a ""career offender,"" a classification that resulted in a long sentence (twelve years). For him to be so classified, it was necessary that the bank robbery be a ""crime of violence."" Sentencing Guidelines § 4B1.1. It was an unarmed robbery. Jones walked up to a teller and announced, ""This is a hold up."" He demanded that the teller give him money from the teller's drawer. When the teller hesitated, Jones leapt onto the teller's counter, pulled open the drawer, grabbed $2,000 in cash from it, stuffed it in a bag that he had brought with him, and ran out of the bank with his accomplice. The accomplice had been holding a bag too, which the teller had surmised contained a weapon, and he had repeatedly warned her, ""Don't touch nothing,"" presumably meaning don't touch an alarm button. But neither robber brandished, or for that matter could have brandished, a weapon, because neither was armed. The bank robbery statute required the government to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt of course, that Jones took the money ""by force and violence, or by intimidation."" 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). Intimidation means the threat of force. The threat can of course be a bluff. United States v. Lucas, 619 F.2d 870 (10th Cir. 1980). The question in this case is whether the behavior of the defendant and his accomplice constituted a threat, which in turn depends on whether their conduct and words were calculated to create the impression that any resistance or defiance by the teller would be met with force. There was ample basis for such an inference. United States v. Hopkins, 703 F.2d 1102 (9th Cir. 1983); United States v. Slater, 692 F.2d 107, 109 (10th Cir. 1982).
 "United States v. Jones" by United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}