United States v. Robert Joseph Lambert

995 F.2d 1006, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 15286, 1993 WL 197895
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJune 14, 1993
Docket92-4146
StatusPublished
Cited by106 cases

This text of 995 F.2d 1006 (United States v. Robert Joseph Lambert) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Robert Joseph Lambert, 995 F.2d 1006, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 15286, 1993 WL 197895 (10th Cir. 1993).

Opinion

LOGAN, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Robert Joseph Lambert appeals his conviction and sentence for bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. He contends that the court improperly admitted certain evidence at trial, and erred by adding two points in calculating his sentencing offense level for a threat made by another participant in the crime.

I

Viewed most favorably to the government, as required because of the jury verdict of conviction, the evidence showed the following. On January 8,1992, defendant and Paul Douglas Keddington entered First Security Bank, a federally-insured bank in Sandy, Utah. While defendant stood in the center of the lobby, Keddington approached the teller and demanded money. Producing a plastic supermarket bag, Keddington told the teller: “Please put all of your money in the bag. You have ten seconds or the person behind me will shoot someone.” II R. 30. At the time defendant had a plastic toy gun, painted black, in his jacket pocket, but did not brandish it. Rather, defendant stood with his arms crossed, his right hand concealed under the left side of his jacket. After the teller put $1214 in the bag Kedding-ton and defendant fled.

After his arrest, Keddington agreed to plead guilty and testify against defendant. At defendant’s trial, Keddington testified that defendant had moved in with him in December 1991; that just after Christmas they had had discussions concerning a bank robbery; that on January 3, he and defendant, while in a supermarket next door to First Security that had a branch of Zion’s Bank in it, discussed potential targets for a robbery including First Security; and that defendant rejected the supermarket because it was too busy. Keddington testified that during their discussion defendant stated that he had seen a man in the Zion’s branch bank within the store with “a lot of money in a bag,” and that “he could take it,” III R. 50; and that defendant said he had seen the man “deposit a large amount of money,” and that he “could slam the guy and take the bag.” Id. Defense counsel objected to this testimony, and subsequently moved for a mistrial on the ground that the evidence was highly prejudicial and not otherwise admissible. This motion was denied.

At sentencing, the government sought a two-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(F) for making an express threat of death. Defendant objected, noting that it was Keddington who had made the threat to the teller, and arguing that the government had presented no evidence to connect defendant to the threat. The district court disagreed, and applied the enhancement.

II

The district court’s decisions not to grant a mistrial and to admit the challenged evidence are reviewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Easter, 981 F.2d 1549, 1553-54 (10th Cir.1992). Defendant argues that Keddington’s testimony concerning the conversation in the supermarket constituted impermissible character evidence inadmissible under Fed.R.Evid. 404(b); the government contends that the discussion was intrinsic to the planning for the charged offense, and not an extrinsic act covered by 404(b).

“Rule 404(b) only applies to evidence of acts extrinsic to the charged crime.” United States v. Pace, 981 F.2d 1123, 1135 (10th Cir.1992), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 1401, 122 L.Ed.2d 774 (1993). “Other act evidence is intrinsic when the evidence of the other act and the evidence of the crime charged are inextricably intertwined or both acts are part of a single criminal episode or the other acts were necessary preliminaries to the -crime charged.” United States v. Williams, 900 F.2d 823, 825 (5th Cir.1990) (internal quotations omitted). Such intrinsic “other act” evidence, although not excluded by 404(b), is still subject to the requirement *1008 of Fed.R.Evid. 403 that its probative value is not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. United States v. Fortenberry, 971 F.2d 717, 721 (11th Cir.1992), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 1020, 122 L.Ed.2d 166 (1993).

In this case, the discussions between defendant and Keddington occurred in the preliminary planning of the bank robbery; immediately after the complained-of remarks, defendant identified First Security to Ked-dington as a good target for a bank robbery. Ill R. 51. According to Keddington the two continued their discussions over the next several days, always focusing on First Security as the robbery target. When contemplating a robbery, inspection and selection of possible targets and discussion of the feasibility of robbing each is standard operating procedure. That the discussion complained of did not focus on First Security is not dispositive; defendant and Keddington were engaged in deciding how and when to undertake a robbery, and immediately thereafter they focused on First Security, the robbery for which defendant was convicted. The substance of the conversation was thus intrinsic to the crime charged, and its admission was not an abuse of discretion. 1

Ill

Defendant also objects to the imposition of a two-level sentencing enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(F) for the threat made by Keddington in the robbery. Keddington’s statement — that the teller had ten seconds to put money in the bag or “the person behind me will shoot someone” — is considered an express threat of death under the guidelines. See id. comment, (n. 7). Factual findings made at sentencing are reviewed under a clearly erroneous standard, but the district court’s legal interpretation of the guidelines is reviewed de novo. United States v. Underwood, 982 F.2d 426, 428 (10th Cir.1992); United States v. Roberts, 980 F.2d 645, 647 (10th Cir.1992).

The government argues that defendant is properly subject to the enhancement under U.S.S.G. § lB1.3(a)(l)(A), because his presence aided and abetted Keddington’s threat. That subsection provides that “all acts and omissions committed, aided, abetted, counseled, commanded, induced, procured, or willfully caused by the defendant” may be considered in sentencing. In essence the government contends that as an aider and abettor defendant is as responsible for the acts of his companion in crime as if he had performed the act — made the threat — himself.

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Bluebook (online)
995 F.2d 1006, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 15286, 1993 WL 197895, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-robert-joseph-lambert-ca10-1993.