To: [Your name]
From: Supervising Attorney
Re: United States v. Canter; armed bank robbery with a dangerous weapon
We have been appointed to represent Eldon Canter in the case of United States v. Canter. Mr. Canter is charged with one count of armed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) and (d).
On January 5 of this year, Mr. Canter robbed the First State Bank. After he entered the bank, he approached a teller and pulled from his pocket a crudely carved wooden replica of a 9 mm Beretta handgun. He had carved the replica from a block of pine wood and stained it with dark walnut wood stain to make it look black. He drilled a hole in the barrel end in an attempt to make it look like a real Beretta.
The teller was so frightened that he only glanced at the wooden gun. He believed it was real. The teller at the next window looked at the replica and afterward stated that she was fairly certain at the time that it was fake. No one else noticed whether the wooden replica was real.
Please determine whether, in light of the facts of this case, there is sufficient evidence to support the charge that Mr. Canter committed bank robbery by use of a "danger¬ous weapon."
Statutory Law: 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) & (d), Bank robbery and incidental crimes, provides:
(a) 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, a bank
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
(d) Whoever, in committing, or in attempting to commit, any offense defined in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, assaults any person, or puts in jeopardy the life of any person by use of a dangerous weapon or device, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 25 years, or both.
Case Law: United States v. Martinez-Jimenez, 864 F.2d 664 (9th Cir. 1989) (see Appendix A).