United States v. Leisa Beatrice Gibson

820 F.2d 692, 1987 U.S. App. LEXIS 8905
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJune 22, 1987
Docket86-2398
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 820 F.2d 692 (United States v. Leisa Beatrice Gibson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. Leisa Beatrice Gibson, 820 F.2d 692, 1987 U.S. App. LEXIS 8905 (5th Cir. 1987).

Opinion

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

REAVLEY, Circuit Judge:

Treating the suggestion for en banc rehearing as a motion for panel rehearing, we grant the motion, withdraw our unpublished opinion of March 23, 1987, and substitute the following opinion.

Leisa Gibson was convicted on five counts for armed robbery within a Houston post office. On counts one and two, she was found guilty of robbery of mail, money or property of the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2114. 1 On counts three *694 and four, she was found guilty of robbery of government property from two persons within the special territorial jurisdiction of the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2111. 2 On count five, she was found guilty of possession and receipt of stolen postal money orders, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 500. 3 We vacate and remand for resentencing.

Facts

Leisa Gibson entered the United States Post Office, Denver Harbor Station, in Houston, Texas, on April 10,1984, carrying a large straw purse. She approached one of the window clerks, displayed a handgun in the purse, and demanded money. The teller gave Gibson the cash in her drawer along with “bait” money orders, whose serial numbers had been recorded for tracing in the event of a robbery. Gibson repeated the process with respect to a second window clerk, and left the building. As she entered her automobile, post office employees recorded its license number and noted its description. This easily led to the identification of Gibson, and in her apartment the police found the straw purse with the cash and bait postal orders. A loaded gun with Gibson’s fingerprints was found in her car.

Gibson was sentenced to three concurrent five-year terms on the two counts finding violations of section 2111 and the one violation of section 500. Imposition of a mandatory sentence of twenty-five years (enhanced by the use of a dangerous weapon putting lives in jeopardy) for the two violations of section 2114 was suspended in favor of five years’ probation to begin after service of the three concurrent five-year prison sentences.

Gibson raises three points of error on appeal. She argues first that she could not be convicted both of robbery of postal money orders under section 2114 and of receiving and. possessing postal money orders under section 500. Second, she argues that she could not be convicted both under the robbery-on-United States-territory statute, section 2111, and under the postal statute, section 2114. Finally, Gibson argues that the trial court’s instructions on counts one and two were impermissibly broader than the grand jury’s indictment on these counts. We decide the first two of Gibson’s three arguments in her favor.

Discussion

I.

In Heflin v. United States, 358 U.S. 415, 79 S.Ct. 451, 3 L.Ed.2d 407 (1959), the Court held that a defendant convicted of bank robbery cannot also be convicted and sentenced for receiving and possessing the proceeds of that robbery. In commenting on the bank robbery statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2113, the Court stated that the possession subsection of the robbery statute (section 2113(c)) “was not designed to increase the punishment for him who robs a bank but only to provide punishment for those who receive the loot from the robber.” Id. at 419, 79 S.Ct. at 454.

Gibson was convicted under the postal robbery statute, section 2114, rather than the bank robbery statute, section 2113, which was at issue in Heflin. In United States v. Crawford, 576 F.2d 794, 800 (9th Cir.1978), however, the Ninth Circuit observed that “[although Heflin and its progeny have dealt primarily with the *695 provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 2113, the federal bank robbery statute, ... the same rule and rationale should apply to convictions under § 2114 and § 500.” We agree. As the Ninth Circuit states, “[t]here is no obvious legislative intent to pyramid the penalties of § 500 and § 2114.” Id. Indeed, in United States v. Wright, 661 F.2d 60, 62 (5th Cir.1981), we stated that a defendant could not be convicted of both robbery of a post office, under section 2114, and possession of property stolen in the robbery, under 18 U.S.C. § 641. We discern no difference between the two possession statutes, section 500 and section 641, on the question whether Congress “was trying to reach a new group of wrongdoers [or] to multiply the offense of the bank robbers themselves.” Heflin, 358 U.S. at 420, 79 S.Ct. at 454.

The government argues that Gibson “waived her objection to the submission of count 5” because she requested a jury issue on possession of the postal money orders. This argument has no force for several reasons. In the first place, the attack here is not upon judicial error but upon an illegal sentence. See Heflin, 358 U.S. at 418, 79 S.Ct. at 453. Furthermore, there was no waiver here. Gibson’s theory at trial was that she could be convicted for possession or robbery, but not both. Her counsel stated to the court: “under the indictment, the defendant cannot be convicted under ... both the possession count and the other four counts.” This sufficiently put the trial court on notice of defense’s objection to being found guilty on both counts. Moreover, in Ball v. United States, 470 U.S. 856, 859, 105 S.Ct. 1668, 1671, 84 L.Ed.2d 740 (1985), the prosecution relied upon a single act “to establish a convicted felon’s unlawful receipt and his unlawful possession of the same firearm,” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(h) and 18 U.S.C. § 1202(a). The Court held that defendant could be indicted and prosecuted under both sections, and the jury could be instructed on both. “Should the jury return guilty verdicts for each count, however, the District Judge should enter judgment on only one of the statutory offenses.” Id. at 865, 105 S.Ct. at 1674.

II.

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Bluebook (online)
820 F.2d 692, 1987 U.S. App. LEXIS 8905, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-leisa-beatrice-gibson-ca5-1987.