Opinion ID: 2975427
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: July 16, 2003 Robbery

Text: On July 16, 2003, Johnson, his friend Leon Walters, Mayhue, and her friend Phillip Calloway (“Calloway”), robbed a TCF Bank in Ann Arbor, Michigan, of $17,527. On the day of the robbery, the four drove to Amber McGowan’s home, where Mayhue was also living. There, Johnson planned the robbery and instructed the others in their respective roles. Johnson explained that Mayhue, Calloway, and Walters would ride to the bank in Walters’ blue Lincoln, and that Johnson would drive separately in McGowan’s white Taurus so that he could watch the bank from a different 2 vantage point and intercept police. At the bank, Walters was to put on a cap with fake braids and Calloway a cap and sunglasses. Wearing these disguises, they were to enter the bank, announce the robbery, jump the teller counter, grab as much money as possible, and leave within 25 seconds of entering. Walters and Calloway were to return to the getaway car — to be driven by Mayhue — jump into the trunk, and drive off. The robbery was executed according to plan. While returning to the rendevous point, however, the car was stopped by the Ann Arbor police, who had heard a dispatch about the robbery. Officer Peter Stipe intercepted the “dark colored Lincoln” that had been reported as being used in the robbery, but because the dispatch advised that the getaway driver was a black woman — Mayhue is not black — and did not mention that the two male robbers might be in the trunk, Officer Stipe concluded that he had stopped the wrong car. Before letting Mayhue go, however, Officer Stipe recorded the Lincoln’s license plate number; further investigation revealed that the car was registered to Alberta Jean Williams — Walters’ “God auntie.” Police later learned that the car belonged to Walters, but that it was registered in Ms. Williams’s name because Walters had outstanding tickets and did not have a driver’s license. On the evening of the July 16, 2003, robbery of the TCF Bank, police observed Calloway with a large quantity of United States currency. Subsequent investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation led to the filing of a criminal complaint against Johnson, and the indictment of Johnson and Calloway on charges of bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113 — Johnson on two counts and Calloway on one. In a series of superceding indictments, Walters, Mayhue, and Askew were added as defendants and charged with bank robbery. In the final superceding indictment, Johnson was also charged with witness tampering. Johnson and Walters pled not guilty and went 3 to trial. Calloway, Mayhue and Askew all pled guilty, and testified at that trial. Johnson was convicted on all counts of the indictment — two counts of bank robbery and three counts of witness tampering — and sentenced to 262 months’ incarceration, three years’ supervised release, a special assessment of $500, and restitution in the amount of $49,018. Walters was convicted on one count of bank robbery, and sentenced to 210 months’ incarceration followed by three years of supervised release, restitution in the amount of $14,427, and a special assessment of $100. These timely appeals followed, in which Johnson appeals only his convictions on the two counts of bank robbery and Walters appeals only his sentence.