United States v. Eddie Adonis Garnett

564 F. App'x 959
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMay 2, 2014
Docket13-13255
StatusUnpublished

This text of 564 F. App'x 959 (United States v. Eddie Adonis Garnett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Eddie Adonis Garnett, 564 F. App'x 959 (11th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Eddie Garnett appeals his conviction for bank robbery by intimidation, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), and his 120-month sentence. On appeal, Garnett argues that the district court improperly admitted evidence of witness’ subjective feelings of intimidation, that the district court should have granted his motion for judgment of acquittal, and that his above-guideline sentence of 120-months imprisonment was unreasonable. After careful review, we affirm.

I.

On October 11, 2012, Garnett entered a bank and demanded money from a bank teller. The teller did not comply with Garnett’s demand, and so he reached across the counter and took money from the drawer himself. He then announced that he needed all the tellers’ money, jumped over the counter, and proceeded to remove money from several drawers. None of the bank’s employees tried to stop Garnett because they had been trained to comply during a robbery rather than fight back. Garnett never brandished a weapon or physically harmed any of the employees, nor did he verbally threaten to do so if they interfered. After he finished taking money from the drawers, Garnett leapt back over the counter and left the bank ■with more than $5,000.

The government arrested Garnett shortly after the incident and charged him with violating 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), which makes it unlawful for any person to take money from a bank “by force and violence, or by intimidation.” At trial, the government proceeded on the theory that, although Garnett had not used force and violence to commit the offense, he had used intimidation. To make its case, the government called several bank employees as witnesses. Each employee explained her subjective reactions to Garnett’s conduct, over his objection. They testified that they were “horrified,” “very scared,” and “shaking” throughout the ordeal. The jury also saw video and photographs of the incident.

Based on this evidence, the jury convicted Garnett. Garnett moved for judgment of acquittal, asserting that the evidence did not support the conviction. The district court denied Garnett’s motion, noting that he did not contest that he “committed the physical acts of reaching over the counter and grabbing money from the teller drawer, leaping over the counter into the tell *961 er’s work space, roving back and forth behind the teller counter in very close proximity to the two tellers behind the counter, taking money from several teller drawers, and then leaping back over the counter in close proximity to the branch manager.”

Under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, Garnett had an offense level of 22 and a criminal history category of IV, which corresponded to a guideline range of 63-to 78-months imprisonment. However, the Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) recommended a 120-month sentence because the guideline range did not adequately account for Garnett’s lengthy criminal history. See United States Sentencing Guidelines (USSG) § 4A1.8. Gar-nett’s prior convictions included another conviction for bank robbery in 1997 and one for bank theft in 2006, for which he was still on supervised release at the time he committed this offense. Both of these prior convictions increased Garnett’s offense level. Other similar adult convictions which did not increase his offense level under the Guidelines included three convictions for theft by taking and one burglary conviction.

The government recommended that the district court vary the sentence upward even higher, to the statutory maximum penalty of 240 months. See 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). The district court declined to go so far, but did agree that an upward variance was appropriate. To that end, the district court sentenced Garnett to 120 months, as the PSR recommended.

Garnett raises three arguments on appeal. First, he argues that the district court improperly admitted irrelevant evidence of the bank employees’ subjective response to Garnett’s conduct. Second, he argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he committed the offense by intimidation. Finally, he argues that the upward variance was unjustified, because his criminal history category adequately accounted for his prior offenses.

II.

It is helpful to address Garnett’s challenges to both the admissibility and the sufficiency of the evidence together. We review a district court’s decision to admit evidence over a defendant’s objection for abuse of discretion, United States v. Jiminez, 224 F.3d 1243, 1249 (11th Cir.2000), and the denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal de novo, United States v. Hansen, 262 F.3d 1217, 1236 (11th Cir.2001) (per curiam). “To uphold the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal, we need only determine that a reasonable fact-finder could conclude that the evidence established the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” viewing the facts and drawing all inferences in the light most favorable to the verdict. Id. (quotation marks omitted).

Garnett argues that the government did not carry its burden to prove that he took the money by intimidation. “Under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), intimidation occurs when an ordinary person in the teller’s position reasonably could infer a threat of bodily harm from the defendant’s acts.” United States v. Cornillie, 92 F.3d 1108, 1110 (11th Cir.1996) (quotation marks omitted) (per curiam). Garnett is right to say that the element of intimidation “is viewed objectively.” United States v. Kelley, 412 F.3d 1240, 1244 (11th Cir.2005).

But it does not follow that evidence of a particular person’s subjective fear cannot properly be considered when a jury decides whether a reasonable person would be intimidated by the same conduct. See United States v. Graham, 931 F.2d 1442, 1443 (11th Cir.1991) (noting that defendant never brandished a weapon or made threatening gestures, but still finding the evidence sufficient to support intimidation *962 based on the teller’s testimony that the defendant’s conduct caused her to feel afraid); see also United States v. Caldwell, 292 F.3d 595, 596 (8th Cir.2002) (“Whether the defendant’s actions did induce fear in an individual victim is not conclusive, but is probative of whether his acts were objectively intimidating.”); United States v. Higdon, 832 F.2d 312

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Cornillie
92 F.3d 1108 (Eleventh Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Christian A. Hansen
262 F.3d 1217 (Eleventh Circuit, 2001)
United States v. Monterrio Kelley
412 F.3d 1240 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
Gall v. United States
552 U.S. 38 (Supreme Court, 2007)
United States v. Irey
612 F.3d 1160 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Rodriguez
628 F.3d 1258 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Tommy Ray Higdon
832 F.2d 312 (Fifth Circuit, 1987)
United States v. Michael Duane Graham
931 F.2d 1442 (Eleventh Circuit, 1991)
United States v. Alberto Rodriguez Jiminez
224 F.3d 1243 (Eleventh Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Kenneth Lloyd Caldwell
292 F.3d 595 (Eighth Circuit, 2002)
United States v. James Lee Early
686 F.3d 1219 (Eleventh Circuit, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
564 F. App'x 959, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-eddie-adonis-garnett-ca11-2014.