Opinion ID: 4515706
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A person is guilty of robbery if, in the course

Text: of committing a theft, he:
17 (ii) threatens another with or intentionally puts him in fear of immediate serious bodily injury; (iii) commits or threatens immediately to commit any felony of the first or second degree; (iv) inflicts bodily injury upon another or threatens another with or intentionally puts him in fear of immediate bodily injury; or (v) physically takes or removes property from the person of another by force however slight. Peppers, 899 F.3d at 231 (quoting 18 PA. CONS. STAT. § 3701(a) (June 24, 1976 to May 16, 2010)). Unlike the New Jersey statute, a few subsections of the Pennsylvania statute carried different penalties. Robbery under subsection (a)(1)(iv) was a second-degree felony, while subsection (a)(1)(v) was a third-degree felony. Otherwise, robberies under the other subsections were first-degree felonies. Id. In Ramos, we explained that a similarly-structured Pennsylvania assault statute is divisible two ways. 892 F.3d at 606. First, the statute “proscribes two alternative degrees of aggravated assault, which are subject to different maximum sentences.” Id. at 609. Second, we found “the statute is further divisible into four, alternative second-degree aggravated assault offenses” because the statute uses disjunctive language to list alternative elements—rather than alternative factual means for committing the offense—in each subsection. Id. Accordingly, disjunctive language setting out elements that must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt can independently show the statute is divisible on its face. 18 elements upon which prosecutors can sustain a second-degree robbery conviction, we hold that the statute is divisible.