Source: http://openjurist.org/print/24917
Timestamp: 2015-09-01 02:14:25
Document Index: 177971959

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 588', '§ 588', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 592', '§ 592', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 2']

318 US 101 Jerome v. United States
Home > 318 US 101 Jerome v. United States
318 US 101 Jerome v. United States 318 U.S. 101
63 S.Ct. 483
87 L.Ed. 640
JEROMEv.UNITED STATES.
Sec. 2(a) of the Bank Robbery Act (48 Stat. 783, 50 Stat. 749, 12 U.S.C. § 588b, 12 U.S.C.A. § 588b) provides in part that 'whoever shall enter or attempt to enter any bank,1 or any building used in whole or in part as a bank, with intent to commit in such bank or building, or part thereof, so used, any felony or larceny, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both'. Petitioner was indicted under that section for entering a national bank in Vermont with intent to utter a forged promissory note and thereby to defraud the bank. He was convicted after trial before a jury and was sentenced to imprisonment for one year and a day. The utterance of a forged promissory note is a felony under the laws of Vermont (P.L.1933, 8485, 8750) but not under any federal statute. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction by a divided vote, holding that 'felony' as used in § 2(a) includes offenses which are felonies under state law. 2 Cir., 130 F.2d 514. We granted the petition for a writ of certiorari, 317 U.S. 606, 63 S.Ct. 62, 87 L.Ed. —-, because of the importance of the problem in the administration of justice and because of the diversity of views which have developed as respects the meaning of 'felony' in § 2(a). Compare with the decision below Hudspeth v. Melville, 10 Cir., 127 F.2d 373; Hudspeth v. Tornello, 10 Cir., 128 F.2d 172.
Prior to 1934 banks organized or operating under federal law were protected against embezzlement and like offenses by R.S. 5209, 40 Stat. 972, 12 U.S.C. § 592, 12 U.S.C.A. § 592. But such crimes as robbery, burglary, and larceny2 directed against such banks were punishable only under state law. By 1934 great concern had been expressed over interstate operations by gangsters against banks—activities with which local authorities were frequently unable to cope. H.Rep. No. 1461, 73d Cong., 2d Sess., p. 2. The Attorney General in response to that concern recommended legislation embracing certain new federal offenses. S. 2841, 73d Cong., 2d Sess. And see 78 Cong.Rec. 5738. Sec. 3 of that bill made it a federal crime to break into or attempt to break into such banks with intent to commit 'any offense defined by this Act, or any felony under any law of the United States or under any law of the State, District, Territory, or possession' in which the bank was located. Sec. 2 made it an offense to take or attempt to take money or property belonging to or in the possession of such a bank without its consent or with its consent obtained 'by any trick, artifice, fraud, or false or fraudulent representation'. This bill was reported favorably by the Senate Judiciary Committee (S.Rep. No. 537, 73d Cong., 2d Sess.) and passed the Senate. 78 Cong.Rec. 5738. The House Judiciary Committee, however, struck out § 2, dealing with larceny, and § 3, dealing with burglary. H.Rep. No. 1461, supra, p. 1. And the bill was finally enacted without them. But it retained the robbery provision3 now contained in the first clause of § 2(a) of the Bank Robbery Act.
In 1937 the Attorney General recommended the enlargement of the Bank Robbery Act 'to include larceny and burglary of the banks' protected by it. H.Rep. No. 732, 75th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 1. The fact that the 1934 statute was limited to robbery was said to have produced 'some incongruous results'—a 'striking instance' of which was the case of a man who stole a large sum from a bank but who was not guilty of robbery because he did not display force or violence and did not put any one in fear. Id., pp. 1—2. The bill as introduced (H.R. 5900, 75th Cong., 1st Sess., 81 Cong.Rec. 2731) added to § 2(a) two new clauses—one defining larceny and the other making it a federal offense to enter or attempt to enter any bank with intent to commit therein 'any larceny or other depredation'. For reasons not disclosed in the legislative history, the House Judiciary Committee substituted 'any felony or larceny' for 'any larceny or other depredation.' H.Rep. No. 732, supra, p. 2. With that change and with an amendment to the larce