United States v. Roberts, No. 13-3275 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this Case
Justia Opinion Summary
Want to stay in the know about new opinions from the Eighth Circuit US Court of Appeals?
Sign up for free summaries delivered directly to your inbox. Learn More ›
You already receive new opinion summaries from Eighth Circuit US Court of Appeals. Did you know we offer summary newsletters for even more practice areas and jurisdictions? Explore them here.
Defendant appealed his sentence after being convicted of two counts of bank robbery. The district court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment because he previously had been convicted of two serious violent felonies. The court concluded that defendant's argument, that Alleyne v. United States and the Sixth Amendment require that a jury must find the fact of his prior convictions because it increased the maximum penalty to which he was exposed, was foreclosed by precedent. Further, defendant's argument, that the affirmative defense of 18 U.S.C. 3559(c)(3), and its placement of a burden of persuasion on defendant to show that a prior bank robbery conviction is nonqualifying, contravenes the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, was also foreclosed by precedent. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Court Description: Criminal case - Sentencing. Almendarez-Torres v. U.S., 523 U.S. 224 (1998) forecloses defendant's argument that a jury must find the fact of his prior convictions, and Alleyne did not revisit Almendarez-Torres' conclusion that recidivism is not an element of the offense that must be submitted to a jury; defendant's claim that his affirmative duty to establish the affirmative defense set out in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3559(c)(3) violates his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights is foreclosed by this court's precedents.
Download PDF
United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 13-3275 ___________________________ United States of America, lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee, v. Eddie Prince Roberts, lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant. ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Jefferson City ____________ Submitted: June 13, 2014 Filed: August 14, 2014 ____________ Before MURPHY, COLLOTON, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________ COLLOTON, Circuit Judge. A jury found Eddie Prince Roberts guilty of two counts of bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). The district court1 sentenced Roberts to life imprisonment, because he previously had been convicted of two serious violent 1 The Honorable Nanette K. Laughrey, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri. felonies. See 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c)(1)(A)(i). Roberts appeals his sentence, and we affirm. In February 1993, Roberts pleaded guilty to four counts of bank robbery. The presentence report for this case explained that in three of the four robberies, Roberts threatened to shoot the bank teller if the teller failed to comply with his demands. In August 1999, a jury found Roberts guilty of another bank robbery. This court affirmed Roberts s conviction, noting that Roberts stipulated that Carl Mitchell, with whom Roberts committed the robbery, told the teller: I want the money and I do have a gun. United States v. Roberts, 47 F. App x 422, 423 (8th Cir. 2002). In May 2012, a grand jury charged Roberts with two counts of bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). Before trial, the government filed notice that it would rely on Roberts s prior convictions to seek a mandatory life sentence as to each count, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c)(1). As relevant here, § 3559(c)(1)(A)(i) provides that a person who is convicted . . . of a serious violent felony shall be sentenced to life imprisonment if . . . the person has been convicted . . . on separate prior occasions . . . [of] 2 or more serious violent felonies. Bank robbery, attempted bank robbery, and conspiracy to commit bank robbery are all included in § 3559 s definition of serious violent felony. Id. § 3559(c)(2)(F)(i). Section 3559 also provides an affirmative defense: Once the government establishes that a defendant previously has been convicted of two or more serious violent felonies, the defendant can avoid mandatory life imprisonment if he proves that his prior robberies were nonqualifying felonies. Id. § 3559(c)(3); see United States v. Davis, 260 F.3d 965, 968 69 (8th Cir. 2001). To demonstrate that a bank robbery conviction is a nonqualifying felony, Roberts bore the burden to establish by clear and convincing evidence that . . . no firearm or other dangerous weapon was used in the offense and no threat of use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon was involved in the offense. 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c)(3)(A)(I). -2- In December 2012, a jury found Roberts guilty of both counts of bank robbery. At sentencing, the parties agreed that Roberts s four 1993 convictions counted as one conviction for purposes of § 3559, because the convictions did not occur on separate occasions. Id. § 3559(c)(1)(A)(i). The parties also agreed that at least one of Roberts s 1993 convictions qualified as a predicate serious violent felony. Roberts argued, however, that his 1999 bank robbery conviction was not a qualifying serious violent felony under § 3559(c)(3)(A)(i). He urged that because he was the driver in the 1999 bank robbery and did not go into the bank, and because he did not know that Mitchell had a gun in the glove box of the car, he established by clear and convincing evidence that he did not use a gun during the commission of that offense. The government responded that the affirmative defense was not satisfied by proof that Roberts personally did not use a gun during the robbery, but that no threat of use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon was involved in the offense. Id. § 3559(c)(3)(A) (emphasis added). The district court found that Roberts had two prior convictions for bank robbery, and that Roberts failed to establish the affirmative defense by clear and convincing evidence. The court thus sentenced Roberts to life imprisonment on the first count of bank robbery and 240 months on the second count, to run concurrently. Roberts appeals his sentence. Roberts advances two arguments on appeal, both based on the Supreme Court s decision in Alleyne v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 2151 (2013). First, he argues that Alleyne and the Sixth Amendment require that a jury, rather than a judge, must find the fact of his prior convictions because it increased the maximum penalty to which he was exposed. This contention is foreclosed by precedent. Almendarez Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 226 27, 247 (1998), held that recidivism is not an element of an offense that must be submitted to a jury, and Alleyne did not revisit that conclusion. 133 S. Ct. at 2160 n.1; see United States v. Abrahamson, 731 F.3d 751, 752 (8th Cir. 2013). -3- Second, Roberts argues that the affirmative defense of § 3559(c)(3), and its placement of a burden of persuasion on the defendant to show that a prior bank robbery conviction is nonqualifying, contravenes the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. He complains that the statute forces a court to presume, without facts, aggravating circumstances the government would otherwise have to prove via indictment, namely, that the prior conviction involved a firearm. This contention is also foreclosed by precedent. In United States v. Davis, 260 F.3d 965 (8th Cir. 2001), this court held that the burden-shifting structure of § 3559 which classifies all robberies as serious violent felonies but allows a defendant to prove the prior robbery convictions are nonqualifying by proving certain facts is constitutional, because Congress has the power to place on a defendant the burden of establishing an affirmative defense that is not an essential element of the crime. Id. at 970; see United States v. Williams, 308 F.3d 833, 840 (8th Cir. 2002). Alleyne did not revisit whether prior convictions are elements of an offense that must be found by a jury, and the Court said nothing to undermine Davis. See United States v. Harris, 741 F.3d 1245, 1248 50 (11th Cir. 2014); United States v. Lucas, 542 F. App x 510, 511 (6th Cir. 2013) (per curiam). * * * The judgment of the district court is affirmed. ______________________________ -4-
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
