State Of Washington v. Bryan Richard Sass, 73462-8

On Aug. 11, 2014, Bryan Sass entered a J.P. Morgan Chase branch wearing a hooded sweatshirt, surgical mask, and gloves; he asked a teller for hundreds, fifties, and twenties and twice said, “I came to rob you.”
The teller activated a silent alarm; Sass left and was arrested nearby. He made no physical contact and displayed no weapon.
Sass was charged with attempted first degree robbery of a financial institution; a jury convicted him as charged. The trial court denied his request for a lesser-included instruction on attempted first degree theft.
At sentencing, the court used two federal bank robbery convictions to calculate Sass’s offender score, producing an offender score of 12 and a 100-month sentence.
On appeal Sass argued: (1) insufficient evidence of threatened force; (2) entitlement to an attempted first degree theft instruction; and (3) erroneous inclusion of prior federal bank robberies in his offender score.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Sass)	Held
Sufficiency of evidence that Sass threatened force for attempted 1st–degree robbery	Evidence (statements, disguise, request for cash) supports an implied threat of force; teller felt threatened	No explicit threat or weapon; no use or threat of immediate force	Affirmed: implied threat established by demand at a bank with disguise and statements (Farnsworth reasoning)
Lesser-included instruction: attempted 1st–degree theft	Not required; robbery statutory elements and trial evidence can support conviction absent theft instruction	Requested instruction because theft is lesser included offense and jury could find no implied threat	Denied: Workman test fails factual prong — evidence did not permit rational verdict of theft without implied threat
Comparable-status of federal bank robbery convictions for offender score	Court treated priors as comparable to Washington robbery and counted points	Federal convictions do not establish required intent to steal under Washington law; not legally/factually comparable here	Reversed as to scoring: State concedes error; remand for resentencing to recalculate offender score
Appellate costs	State sought costs if prevailing	Sass asserted indigency and requested denial of costs	Court declined to award appellate costs given indigency

State v. Farnsworth, 185 Wn.2d 768 (Wash. 2016) (demanding money in a bank can imply a threat of force even without explicit words or a weapon)
State v. Berlin, 133 Wn.2d 541 (Wash. 1997) (Workman test for lesser-included offenses)
State v. Olsen, 180 Wn.2d 468 (Wash. 2014) (two-part test for comparability of foreign convictions)
In re Personal Restraint of Lavery, 154 Wn.2d 249 (Wash. 2005) (discussing intent-to-steal requirement for Washington robbery)
State v. Finch, 137 Wn.2d 792 (Wash. 1999) (definition and elements of first degree robbery involving financial institutions)