Opinion ID: 328169
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Alleged error in the charge with respect to Count III.

Text: 41 As stated, Count III was for the unlawful use of a firearm in the commission of a federal felony, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). Believing the evidence showed that Shea's revolver was the firearm used by Thomas, the judge charged that the jury could convict on Count III if, but only if, it found that the revolver was used in committing one or more of the felonies charged in Counts One, Two, Four or Five. Since the jury acquitted on Count Five, it obviously did not use this as a predicate felony for conviction under Count Three. 42 The contention stressed by defendants in brief was that it was error to include Counts Two and Four, both involving robbery of the property of the United States, since the robbery of the revolver was complete before Thomas used it, and that this requires reversal since the jury might have utilized one or the other of those counts as the felony predicate. We agree with the Government that the premise, as so stated, is unsound. To constitute robbery, there must be both a taking and a carrying away of the property. Clark & Marshall, Law of Crimes § 12.09, at 882 (7th ed. 1967). At the time of the shooting Agent Shea had not given up on the prospect of arresting the defendants and retrieving his revolver; indeed he did not give up thereafter. Moreover, both before and after the shooting, there was always a chance, however small, of intervention by other law enforcement officers or good Samaritans. As said in United States v. Von Roeder, 435 F.2d 1004, 1010 (10 Cir.), vacated on other grounds, 404 U.S. 67, 92 S.Ct. 326, 30 L.Ed.2d 222 (1971): 43 The escape phase of a crime is not, as appellant apparently argues, an event occurring after the robbery. It is part of the robbery. 44 Now, however, because of our having vacated the conviction on Count Two, defendants' premise that one of the counts would not support a conviction has become true. But their conclusion still does not follow. This is because of an alternative ground for affirmance advanced by the Government. While the general principle is that, as stated long ago in Nicola v. United States, 72 F.2d 780, 787 (3 Cir. 1934), Where two instructions are given to the jury, one erroneous and prejudicial and the other correct, it is impossible to tell which one the jury followed and it constitutes reversible error, see also Mills v. United States, 164 U.S. 644, 649, 17 S.Ct. 210, 41 L.Ed. 584 (1897); Frank v. United States, 220 F.2d 559, 565 (10 Cir. 1955); Smith v. United States, 230 F.2d 935, 939 (6 Cir. 1956), this is subject to an exception when the verdict gives assurance that no prejudice in fact occurred. United States v. Bottone, 365 F.2d 389, 394-95 (2 Cir.), cert. denied,385 U.S. 974, 87 S.Ct. 514, 17 L.Ed.2d 437 (1966); United States v. Baratta,397 F.2d 215, 225-26 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 939, 89 S.Ct. 293, 21 L.Ed.2d 276 (1968); United States v. Jacobs, 475 F.2d 270, 283-84 (2 Cir.), cert. denied sub nom., Lavelle v. United States, 414 U.S. 821, 94 S.Ct. 116, 38 L.Ed.2d 53 (1973). Here Count One charged not merely assault but, in order to trigger the heavier penalties provided by the second paragraph of § 111, assault by use of a deadly and dangerous weapon, to wit, a revolver. In finding the defendants guilty of that charge, the jury necessarily found all the facts required for a conviction on the third count. It is thus immaterial that the jury may have considered the felony charged in Count Two also to have been a predicate. 14 45