Opinion ID: 2994197
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Federal Armed Bank Robbery Conviction

Text: Brown went for the jackpot on May 1, 1998, when he entered the Lombard, Illinois branch of the LaSalle Bank, lifted his shirt, displayed the butt end of a revolver and shouted, I’ve got a gun and a grenade in my pocket, my partner just gave me the signal, he’s got a police scanner in the car, so don’t set off any alarms or I’ll pull the pin on this and we’ll all die. Brown then handed a bag to a bank employee and told the employee to go to the teller counter and have it filled. The defendant continued to terrorize the bank employees and patrons by threatening, Don’t make any mistakes, I don’t want any strapped money or I’ll pull the pin, and also warned that if anyone called for help, he would come back in, pull the pin, and we’ll all explode. The LaSalle Bank’s records reflected that the bank was out $9,248 as a result of the armed bank robbery. Approximately two weeks later, on May 14, 1998, the Lombard Police Department was advised that an individual recently arrested by the Chicago Police Department for aggravated robbery had signed a written confession in which he admitted to robbing the Lombard, Illinois branch of the LaSalle Bank./5 The following day, Brown was identified in a photo lineup by two eyewitnesses as the individual who robbed the LaSalle Bank on May 1, 1998./6 On December 15, 1998, Brown was indicted on one-count of bank robbery by force or violence, and on January 27, 1999, pled guilty and his plea was accepted. The Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) recommended that Brown receive a total of thirteen criminal history points, including ten points for his four previously discussed state convictions for aggravated and armed robbery./7 The sentencing judge adopted the recommendation of the PSR and made the following findings with respect to his prior state robbery convictions: the court found that the April 16 robbery was related to the March 23 robbery under Application note 3 to U.S.S.G. sec. 4A1.2(a)(2) because the two offenses had been consolidated for the purposes of sentencing by the state court, thus resulting in the allocation of just one criminal history point under sec. 4A1.1(f) for the April 16 robbery,/8 but counted the March 23, April 30, and May 9 robberies separately and allocated three criminal history points for each offense under U.S.S.G. sec. 4A1.1(a), resulting in nine criminal history points. Before sentencing, Brown filed objections to the PSR, contending that all four state robbery convictions were related under sec. 4A1.2(a)(2) as part of a common scheme or plan and thus should have been counted only once in the criminal history computation. The sentencing judge rejected his challenge and sentenced him to 125 months imprisonment to run concurrently with his state sentences. Brown appeals.