United States v. John H. BrittainUnited States v. John H. Brittain
Lead Opinion
The issue in this appeal is whether bank larceny,
I.
On September 28, 1992, the defendant John H. Brittain walked into the Colorado National Bank in Longmont, Colorado, and entered a line of customers waiting for tellers. Jamie Marie Helgeland was working as a teller in the bank. When Helgeland had no customers in her fine, she motioned to Brit-tain to move to her station. The defendant walked up to Helgeland and presented a hand-written note which stated:
Don’t give any kind of alarm.
Put all of the $100. $50. & $20. in front of you.
Give them to me all at one time.
I have someone watching.
Govt.Exh. 1. Helgeland took $1,170.00 out of the teller drawer and gave it to the defendant, who walked out of the bank with the money. The deposits of the bank were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Helgeland acted calmly during this episode but was afraid and concerned for her safety. When she read the words “I have someone watching” she felt “that maybe somebody would have come barging in there with a gun maybe, or I don’t know, put myself in danger.” Tr. Vol. 3 at 9. Ms. Helgeland’s testimony indicated that the bank’s policy in this type of situation was for the teller to do exactly what the person said to do. Id. at 12. After the defendant walked away from the
On May 26, 1993, Trooper Robert Gemmel of the Nevada Highway Patrol found the defendant in the back of a U-Haul truck at a rest stop along a highway in Nevada. The defendant was apparently attempting to take his own life. The engine of the truck was running and a hose ran from the exhaust pipe to the enclosed back portion of the truck where the defendant was found by the trooper. Trooper Gemmel disconnected the hose and had the defendant come out of the back compartment of the truck. The defendant subsequently stated to Gemmel that he was wanted for robbery in Longmont, Colorado. The defendant explained that he had entered a bank in Longmont, passed a note to a teller and then walked out with the money.
II.
Whoever, by force and violence, or by intimidation, takes, or attempts to take, from the person or presence of another, ... any property or money or any other thing of value belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of, any bank ...
Shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
At his trial the defendant requested that the jury be given a lesser included offense instruction based on subsection (b) of
Whoever takes and carries away, with intent to steal or purloin, any property or money or other thing of value exceeding $100 belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of any bank, ... shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; ...
The elements test does not depend upon inferences arising from the evidence nor does it inquire into similarities in the interests furthered by the statutes. Id. at 720,
After examining the statutes at issue here, the district court applied the elements test and determined that bank larceny is not a lesser included offense because it contains an element that bank robbery does not: the intent to steal or purloin.
III.
In United States v. Slater,
We note at the outset that Slater’s statement regarding the elements of bank larceny and bank robbery raises some troubling questions. Several issues relevant to the lesser included inquiry were apparently not raised (and were therefore not addressed) in Slater. Three concerns in particular seem relevant in light of Slater’s cryptic reference to the elements of these offenses. We outline these concerns below.
A. Plain Language of the Statute. First and foremost, the language of
B. History of
The statute originated with the Bank Robbery Act of 1934,
In light of the fact that robbery and larceny were offenses at common law, it might be argued that Congress intended to incorporate into
The argument for an implied “intent to steal” element in the bank robbery provision would have been stronger under the language of the statute as originally enacted. Section 588a applied to one who “feloniously” took property or money by force and violence or by putting in fear.
When the criminal code was revised in 1948, however, the word “feloniously” was deleted from the first paragraph of § 2113(a). The Revisor’s Notes to § 2113 indicate that this was considered only a “change in phraseology.” See also Prince v. United States,
Regardless of the subtle inferences one might draw from the history of § 2113, the fact is that the plain language of the statute provides no basis for implying that intent to steal is an element of bank robbery under § 2113(a). Clearly, when Congress intended to require the presence of a specific mental state for the commission of an offense under § 2113, it knew how to do so in so many words. See § 2113(a) (Prohibiting entry into a bank “with intent to commit ... any felony ... or any larceny_”); § 2113(b) (Prohibiting the taking and carrying away “with intent to steal or purloin....”); § 2113(c) (Prohibiting receiving stolen property “knowing the same to be property which has been stolen_”).
C. United States v. Lewis. In addition to the language and history of the statute, we are also concerned whether Slater is compatible with our holding in United States v. Lewis,
Assuming, however, that Lewis did intend to turn himself in after the robbery, did he still have the intent required by the statute? The second paragraph ofsection 2113(a) requires specific intent to commit a felony in a bank, here bank robbery. Felonious intent is not specifically incorporated into the offense of bank robbery under the first paragraph ofsection 2113(a) , but we agree with United States v. De Leo,422 F.2d 487 , 491 (1st Cir.), [cite omitted] that the offense is so “unambiguously dangerous to others that the requisite mental intent is necessarily implicit in that description.”
We believe that an individual who enters into a bank with the intention of taking money by intimidating employees of the bank, is answerable for the consequences of his actions, if he is mentally competent, even assuming his motive for committing the act was to be caught and returned to prison. The fact that the bank was to bedeprived of the funds only temporarily does not change the result.
Lewis,
The case upon which Lewis relied, United States v. DeLeo,
At the very least, this seeming contradiction between Slater and Lewis is likely to cause confusion concerning the elements of bank robbery under
IV.
Notwithstanding the concerns we have about United States v. Slater,
We recognize that in some circumstances an intervening Supreme Court decision may allow a panel of this court to determine that a previous circuit court decision is no longer binding. See United States v. Killion,
V.
Tenth Circuit precedent holds that bank larceny is a lesser included offense of bank robbery. We therefore VACATE the judgment and REMAND the ease for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Notes
. The parties have waived oral argument. After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of this appeal. See
. Aside from the elements test, a separate prerequisite must also be satisfied before a lesser included instruction can be said to be required under
The district court below found that the evidence concerning intimidation was such that a rational jury could find the defendant guilty of bank larceny but not guilty of bank robbery. The government conceded that this ruling was correct, Tr.Supp. I at 23, and it has not been raised as an issue on appeal. Cf. United States v. Lajoie,
. The defendant in Smith was convicted of bank robbery. His attorney stipulated during the trial that the defendant had robbed the bank but claimed that the defendant acted under duress because of threats he had received. On appeal, the defendant argued that his lawyer had been ineffective, in part because of his failure to request a lesser included instruction on bank larceny. The lawyer filed an affidavit stating that he had overlooked the availability of this possible defense. Despite the attorney’s admission we found that his performance had not fallen below an objective standard of reasonableness. We reasoned that even if counsel "had in fact been aware of the availability of the lesser included offense,” it would have been reasonable for him to avoid it and to focus instead on the defendant’s duress defense, especially in light of strong evidence at trial that the taking of money had been achieved through intimidation. In the course of reaching this conclusion we noted: "Bank robbery includes all the elements of bank larceny, see
. Although neither party has raised the issue, we also note that
. Section 588a provided in pertinent part:
Whoever, by force and violence, or by putting in fear, feloniously takes, or feloniously attempts to take, from the person or presence of another any property or money or any other thing of value belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of, any bank shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
See Jerome,
. We note that Slater appears to be consistent with United States v. Combs,
. See Modern Fed. Jury Instructions ¶ 53.01 at 53-22 (Matthew Bender 1994): "In both United States v. Slater, and United States v. Carter, it was held that
It should be noted, however, that in circuits in which specific intent is not án element of
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. This court concludes bank larceny is a lesser included offense of bank robbery relying on United States v. Slater,
In Slater, we summarily concluded bank larceny is a lesser included offense of bank robbery noting that “the crime of bank robbery contains all the elements of bank larceny.” Slater,
In the instant case, this court concludes Slater “purported to apply” the elements test as dictated by Schmuck because it “referred only to the elements of the offenses.” I disagree. “[T]he elements approach involves a textual comparison of criminal statutes,” id. at 720,
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
I am pleased to concur in the result reached in this case. The opinion for the court quite correctly concluded that the Tenth Circuit precedent requires us to conclude that bank larceny is a lesser included offense of bank robbery. However, I write separately to concur in the result rather than in the opinion because I do not agree with the criticism leveled against United States v. Slater,