United States v. Mark Anthony Jones, United States of America v. Ira Dwayne Drayton

993 F.2d 58, 1993 WL 179502
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMay 28, 1993
Docket92-5104, 92-5117
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 993 F.2d 58 (United States v. Mark Anthony Jones, United States of America v. Ira Dwayne Drayton) 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. Mark Anthony Jones, United States of America v. Ira Dwayne Drayton, 993 F.2d 58, 1993 WL 179502 (5th Cir. 1993).

Opinion

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

Defendants Mark Jones and Ira Drayton and a third person drove to a bank and attempted to force open its locked doors. Drayton carried a gun at the time. Shortly thereafter, the three were arrested. Dray-ton pleaded guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). Jones elected to stand trial and was convicted of one count of violating section 2113(a) and one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). Jones contends that his indictment did not charge him with a crime under section 2113(a) and that the jury instructions impermissibly allowed the jury to convict him of the second count. We affirm both Jones’s and Drayton’s convictions under section 2113(a) but reverse Jones’s conviction 1 under section 924(c)(1).

I.

On January 28, 1992, Jones, Drayton, and Derek Hulett drove to the Bank of East Texas in Chester, Texas. Drayton testified that while driving to Chester, the three stopped at a store in Livingston, Texas, where Drayton purchased ammunition for a gun he was carrying. They drove the car into the bank’s parking lot, where Drayton and Jones proceeded to don ski masks.

A bank employee happened to see the car pull into the lot containing two men wearing ski masks. When she told her supervisor that the bank was about to be robbed, the supervisor locked the bank’s doors. At that point, the car drove away without incident. The employee memorized the car’s license plate number and called the Tyler County Sheriffs Department.

A few minutes later, the car returned. Jones and Drayton, both wearing ski masks on top of their heads, got out of the car and walked toward-the employee entrance of the bank. Drayton carried a loaded .38 caliber revolver in his waistband. They moved to the front entrance and began to shake the locked front doors of the bank. After failing to force open the locked doors, they ran back to the car. When the police stopped the three a few minutes later, they discovered in the car a box of ammunition, two ski masks, and a loaded .38 caliber revolver.

Drayton' agreed to cooperate with the government and pleaded guilty to attempted bank robbery in violation of section 2113(a). In return, the government dropped the weapons charge under section 924(c)(1).

Count one' of Jones’s indictment stated,

On or about the 28th day of January, 1992, in the Eastern District of Texas, the defendant, Mark Anthony Jones, did attempt to enter the Bank of East Texas located in Chester, Texas, a bank whose deposits were then insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation with intent to commit in such bank larceny, and a felony affecting such bank, that is, the taking and carrying away, with intent to steal and purloin, property and money and other thing of value exceeding $100.00 belonging to and in the care, custody, control, management, and possession of such bank, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2113(a).

Count two of the indictment read,

On or about the 28th day of January, 1992, in the Eastern District of Texas, Mark Anthony Jones, Defendant herein, knowingly used and carried a firearm, namely, a .38 caliber Colt Detective Special, serial number 954584 during and in relation to a crime of violence for which he may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, namely attempted bank robbery, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c)(1).

While conducting voir dire, the prosecution questioned the jury on attempted bank robbery. Jones objected on the ground that he was indicted for attempted bank larceny, not robbery. At the start of trial, the court instructed the jury that the defendant was on trial for attempted bank robbery under count one. After Jones objected again, the court clarified its statement, telling the jury that Jones was on trial for attempted bank larceny. At this point, the prosecutor argued that count one encompassed bank larceny and “a felony,” the felony of bank robbery. The defense objected, and the court overruled its objection.

*60 Both Drayton and Hulett testified against Jones at trial. They testified that Jones knowingly had agreed to, and participated in, an attempt to rob the bank. Drayton also asserted that since Jones watched him load the guh in the car, Jones was aware that Drayton was carrying a,loaded gun..

At the close of trial, the court instructed the jury that for it to find Jones guilty on count one, it must find three things: (1) that the defendant knowingly attempted to enter the bank (2) with the intent to commit larceny or a felony and (3) that the bank’s deposits were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Next the court instructed the jury that it could find Jones guilty under count two if it found that (1) the defendant committed the crime alleged in count one and (2) the defendant or one of his accomplices knowingly used or carried a firearm during the commission of the crime alleged in count one. The court then advised the jury that “attempted bank robbery is a crime of violence.”

Jones objected to the court’s instructions but was overruled. The jury found him guilty on both counts. At the sentencing hearing Jones objected again. The- court sentenced him for bank robbery and for carrying a firearm -during the commission of a crime of violence.

II.

Jones now appeals on the ground that the indictment did not encompass bank robbery because it failed to include the essential element of the use of force or intimidation; Drayton makes a similar argument. Jones also contends that his conviction under count two should be reversed because the judge improperly instructed the jury on the required elements of that charge. He maintains that because, bank larceny is not a crime of violence, a finding by the jury of guilt under count one does not meet the requirement that a crime of violence was committed as the trial court advised.

A.

Jones maintains that while count one charged him only with bank larceny, he was convicted of bank robbery. To resolve this issue, we must compare the language of the indictment with the text of section 2113(a), which reads,

Whoever, by force and violence, or by intimidation, takes, or attempts to take, from the person or presence of another, or obtains or attempts to obtain by extortion any property or money or any other thing of value belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of, any bank, credit union, or any savings and loan association; or
Whoever enters or attempts to enter any bank, credit union, or any savings and loan association, or any building used in whole or in part as a bank, credit union, or as a savings and loan association, with intent to commit in such bank, credit union,' or in such savings and loan association, or building, or part thereof, so used, any felony affecting such bank, credit union, or such savings and loan association and in violation of any statute of the United States, or any larceny—

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
993 F.2d 58, 1993 WL 179502, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mark-anthony-jones-united-states-of-america-v-ira-dwayne-ca5-1993.