Opinion ID: 1264920
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Foreseeability of the use of a firearm in the robbery

Text: Of course, Simmons, the subject of our appeal, was not at the scene of the completed robbery. Nonetheless he can be liable as a conspirator. Such conspiracy liability is dependent, though, on his actual knowledge of his co-conspirator's actions or whether those actions were reasonably foreseeable. Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 647-48, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946). Simmons argues that there was insufficient evidence for a rational jury to find that he could have foreseen that the robbery would have involved the use of a firearm. Simmons bases this argument on the idea that Jackie Schmidt, Mann's girlfriend, was a willing participant in the bank heist. (This argument will surface again, in the context of sentencing.) Simmons argues that a gun would not be needed in the robbery because, according to the plan, no one was supposed to be in the bank and Schmidt was not being coerced. The government points out that the evidence showed that the first failed attempt involved the use of a gun, and that Simmons acted as a lookout during this event. Simmons's job was to alert Mann to anyone entering the bank so Mann could lay them down and tape them up. We agree with the government that the jury could infer from that testimony that the use of a gun was a part of the plot all along. Furthermore, Simmons was involved in the reformulation of the plan, this time to grab Schmidt and take her to the bank; his absence from his lookout post was due to an unexpected wrinkle with his childcare arrangements (at least unexpected to his co-conspirators). Evidence that Simmons had actual knowledge of the gun used in the second robbery included the fact that he was in repeated contact with Mann, who provided the gun, throughout the robbery, including after the original plan of grabbing Schmidt at 3:30 a.m. had changed to driving her to the bank later in the morning. The same gun was used in both the attempt and the successful robbery. Mann informed Simmons over the phone at the exact moment Campbell entered the bank. The jury also heard evidence at trial that Schmidt was abducted from her house, and was not a willing participant in the robbery. Kasten testified that Schmidt appeared shaken and fumbled while entering in the vault code. Campbell, Simmons's co-conspirator, testified that Schmidt was shaken, and that he and Mann had originally planned to steal the key to the bank from Schmidt's key ring without her knowledge. And Mann testified that the plan was for Campbell to abduct his girlfriend. Other testimony, as Simmons points out, tends to show something less than coercion, but there was ample evidence on both sides of the issue. And Schmidt did not testify. The jury was entitled to choose between two credible versions of the facts and conclude that Schmidt was not in on the plot. See United States v. Williams, 553 F.3d 1073, 1080 (7th Cir.) cert. denied ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 2452, 174 L.Ed.2d 242 (2009). If so, it was rational for the jury to infer, given the use of the gun in the original plan, that a gun would be used to abduct her. Or even if the jury believed that Schmidt was a willing co-participant, they were entitled to infer that the plot involved the use of the gun inside the bank. It was certainly handy in compelling Kasten's compliance with commands. The conviction on the firearm count, therefore, must also stand.