United States v. Tyrice Royston

681 F. App'x 534
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 10, 2017
Docket15-3085, 15-3202
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 681 F. App'x 534 (United States v. Tyrice Royston) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Tyrice Royston, 681 F. App'x 534 (8th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

*536 PER CURIAM.

We consolidate these two appeals brought by Tyrice G. Royston, who was convicted of two counts of bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2113(a) and 2, following separate trials. The district court 2 sentenced Royston to 240 months’ imprisonment on each count and ordered that 22 months of the second sentence run consecutively to the first, for a total sentence of 262 months’ imprisonment. Roy-ston argues that there was insufficient evidence to support his convictions, that the district court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal, and that his sentence is substantively unreasonable. We affirm.

Given Royston’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we recount the facts in some detail. On March 17, 2014, Christopher Booker drove Pamela La-thon’s rental vehicle to a residence in St. Louis, Missouri, where he and Lathon picked up Royston. They thereafter picked up a man who went by the name “June Bug,” and together the four headed to Essex, Missouri, where they planned to rob the First Commercial Bank.

On the way to Essex, Booker stopped at a hardware store, where he purchased plastic zip ties that he gave to Royston and June Bug. Booker also gave the men reflective vests and plastic gloves to wear. Booker told them, “Be calm. Don’t draw attention to yourself. Go in and get out.” Booker then drove to the bank, circling it once before parking nearby, whereupon Royston and June Bug exited the vehicle.

Angela Malloy, a teller, and Billie Shelton, a head teller and branch manager, were working at the First Commercial Bank in Essex that day. The bank was then insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). At approximately 11:30 a.m., two men entered the bank wearing reflective vests. The men approached the teller stations and jumped over the counter, knocking the women to the floor and causing significant injury to Malloy’s back. One of the men grabbed Malloy’s hands and told her that if she rolled over, he would not hurt her. As Malloy lay on her stomach, the man used zip ties to secure her hands behind her back and to bind her feet. Meanwhile, the other man—later identified as Royston— used zip ties to secure Shelton’s hands, telling her to “shut up so he wouldn’t have to hurt [her].” Royston and June Bug then rummaged through the tellers’ cash drawers and the bank’s small vault, stealing the cash. The robbery was recorded by the bank’s video surveillance system.

Lathon estimated that Royston and June Bug were inside the bank for ten minutes. They quickly exited the building and entered the vehicle. The four returned to St. Louis, where they divvied up $34,-000-plus taken in the robbery.

Booker later planned a second robbery. Royston and a man named Alexander Trotter agreed to execute it, along with Lathon’s help. Lathon picked up Royston and Trotter on May 20, 2014, in compliance with Booker’s text message instruction. Before leaving St. Louis in Lathon’s white, four-door car, Royston said that “he needed to get some heat,” which Lathon understood to mean a gun. At Royston’s request, they stopped at a residence before heading to Morley, Missouri.

Near Morley, they met briefly with Booker, who had decided to stay at a *537 nearby residence during the robbery. After Booker gave some final instructions, Lathon drove Royston and Trotter to the First Commercial Bank in Morley. At Booker’s request, Lathon had brought two cans of pepper spray with her, which Roy-ston and Trotter each took one of before entering the bank. Royston told Trotter to “be calm, relax, ... follow [Royston’s] lead and to get in and get out quickly.” The two men then entered the bank,

Sandra Glueck and Anita Wubker were working at the FDIC-insured First Commercial Bank that day. At approximately 1:20 p.m., two men walked into the bank. Glueck was speaking on the telephone when a man—later identified as Royston— approached her station. Wubker asked if she could help, and Royston walked over to her station, saying that he would like to set up a checking account. After some discussion, Royston said, “You know what I want.” Wubker looked over to Glueck with “this look of. total fear, ... like she was frozen, total frozen fear.”

Trotter then went behind the counter. He sprayed Glueck in the face with pepper spray, pushed her to the ground, and bound her hands so tightly with a zip tie that they turned blue. Wubker complied with Royston’s order to kneel on the floor, following which he secured her hands with a zip tie. Royston and Trotter then rummaged around, saying, “Where’s the money?” The men found Wubker’s keys and opened her cash drawer, taking the money therein and the money from a nearby safe. For good measure, they also grabbed the women’s purses before exiting the bank.

Meanwhile, a customer had pulled up to the bank’s drive-through window. As the customer waited, she could not see the tellers, but she saw two people exit the bank and enter a white vehicle, whereupon she dialed 911. Glueck was able to stand up, walk over to a phone, push the receiver off its cradle, and dial 9il with her nose. Law enforcement officers soon arrived and relayed to dispatch that the suspects had left the scene in a white, four-door car.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Richard Owens stopped Lathon approximately fourteen miles from Morley. La-thon could not explain where she had been or identify the two passengers in her vehicle. After discovering that Lathon’s license plate' number was not registered to her vehicle, Owens asked the passengers to exit and then secured them in handcuffs.

Upon obtaining Lathon’s consent to search the vehicle, Owens discovered a sheer silk bag filled with bundles of cash. After the car was secured and impounded, law enforcement officers searched the vehicle pursuant to a warrant. The contents of the vehicle included, among other things, a silk bag containing $11,588.05 in cash; a .380 caliber handgun and a loaded magazine; a black zip tie; a can of pepper spray; and miscellaneous clothes, hats, and gloves.

Following his arrest, Royston agreed to speak with Special Agent Dan Zwiesler of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Royston confessed that he and a man he knew as “Rillo” had robbed a bank in Morley, that Booker had planned the robbery, and that Lathon had driven the getaway vehicle.

The next day, FBI Special Agent Brian Ritter interviewed Royston, who again confessed to committing the Morley bank robbery. He claimed that the gun was his but denied bringing it inside the bank during the robbery. Royston further confessed that he—along with Lathon, Booker, and another man whose name he did not know—had robbed a bank in Essex in March 2014. Royston explained that he was one of the men who entered the bank in Essex and robbed it, and he identified *538 himself in a still image taken from the video of the robbery.

Royston was charged in separate indictments with robbing the Essex and Morley banks. Despite his confessions, Royston pleaded not guilty to both charges.

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Bluebook (online)
681 F. App'x 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-tyrice-royston-ca8-2017.