Opinion ID: 1300396
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Heading: Statutory Elements of Robbery.

Text: At common law thieves were not guilty of robbery when they employed violence or threatened violence to effect an escape from a crime scene; the force requisite for robbery was required either to precede or accompany the taking. W. La Fave & A. Scott, Jr., Criminal Law 698 (1972); K. Dunahoo, The New Iowa Criminal Code, 29 Drake L.Rev. 237, 394 (1980). Defendant contends that as a matter of law his escape from the crime scene was completed by the time his assault on the security guards occurred. He cites cases from other jurisdictions reiterating the common-law rule that force or intimidation used merely as a means of escape does not supply the element of force essential to a robbery conviction. See Root v. State, 247 Ala. 514, 514, 25 So.2d 182, 182 (1946); State v. Vandament, 299 S.W.2d 532, 534 (Mo. 1957); Hood v. State, 80 Okl.Cr. 175, 182, 157 P.2d 918, 921 (1945). Defendant's reliance on common-law principles governing the crime of robbery is misplaced. The controlling statute, Iowa Code section 711.1, is much less restrictive than the common-law definition of robbery. Our statute provides: A person commits a robbery when, having the intent to commit a theft, the person does any of the following acts to assist or further the commission of the intended theft or the person's escape from the scene thereof with or without the stolen property: 1. Commits an assault upon another. 2. Threatens another with or purposely puts another in fear of immediate serious injury. 3. Threatens to commit immediately any forcible felony.... Iowa Code § 711.1 (1985) (emphasis added). In enacting this statute the Iowa Legislature has proscribed conduct which would not have constituted robbery at common law. State v. Pierce, 287 N.W.2d 570, 573-74 (Iowa 1980). Without question the statute expands the time span in which the required assault or threat of physical violence can occur. Explicitly included within this statutory definition of robbery is an assault committed after a theft has been completed but which furthered the offender's escape. A number of other jurisdictions have eschewed the common-law definition in favor of a less restrictive force requirement for robbery. See, e.g., Wilson v. State, 262 Ark. 339, 340, 556 S.W.2d 657, 658 (1977) (applying expanded robbery statute); People v. Estes, 147 Cal.App.3d 23, 28, 194 Cal.Rptr. 909, 912 (1983) (extending definition of robbery by judicial interpretation); Lightner v. State, 535 S.W.2d 176, 177 (Tex.Crim.App.1976) (applying expanded robbery statute). See generally 67 Am. Jur.2d Robbery § 28, at 82-84 (1985); Annotation, Use of Force or Intimidation in Retaining Property or in Attempting to Escape, Rather than in Taking Property, as Element of Robbery, 93 A.L.R.3d 643 (1979). Defendant's conviction must be upheld if substantial evidence satisfied the elements of the Iowa robbery statute, Iowa Code section 711.1.