Criminal Defense
Bank robbery. Robber arrives on moped, wearing tinted, full-face motorcycle helmet as disguise. Robber enters bank, draws pistol, and jumps onto teller’s counter. Robber throws bag at teller and demands money. Kneeling on counter with both knees, robber aims pistol with one hand at teller, threatens to kill her if she does not hurry while frantically gesturing with other hand. Teller quickly fills bag with money and returns bag to robber who shoots and kills her. Robber jumps from counter, exits bank, flees on moped. Robber turned in by friends, arrested, and charged with Bank Robbery, Felony Murder, and Premeditated Murder. Police never recover pistol. Why did robber shoot the teller?
Why did robber shoot the teller?
Follow-up investigation revealed: Pistol stolen from robber’s neighbor. Neighbor was firearm collector, marksmen, and competition shooter. Pistol was heavy, large caliber, long barrel, high velocity, magnum revolver. For competitions, owner had normal “pull” on trigger reduced by over half, resulting in “hair trigger.” Robber never fired sidearms prior to robbery, including stolen pistol. Examination of surveillance video showed robber never “pulled” trigger of pistol. Instead, he lost balance while kneeling on counter, pistol shifted in hand, slid forward, and weight of heavy pistol sliding forward pushed trigger up against “trigger” finger. Because of reduced “pull” trigger engaged and pistol fired, even though robber never “pulled” trigger. In return for pleading guilty to Bank Robbery and Felony Murder, Prosecutor agrees not to charge robber with Burglary and Theft of pistol and drop charge of Premeditated Murder.
