Filed: Aug. 11, 2011
Latest Update: Feb. 22, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED _ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT AUGUST 11, 2011 No. 09-16360 JOHN LEY _ CLERK D. C. Docket No. 09-00011-CR-2-RLV-4 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus SHERMAN EDWARD WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia _ (August 11, 2011) Before EDMONDSON and MARTIN, Circuit Judges, and HODGES,* District Judge. * Honorable W
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED _ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT AUGUST 11, 2011 No. 09-16360 JOHN LEY _ CLERK D. C. Docket No. 09-00011-CR-2-RLV-4 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus SHERMAN EDWARD WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia _ (August 11, 2011) Before EDMONDSON and MARTIN, Circuit Judges, and HODGES,* District Judge. * Honorable Wm..
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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED
________________________ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
AUGUST 11, 2011
No. 09-16360
JOHN LEY
________________________
CLERK
D. C. Docket No. 09-00011-CR-2-RLV-4
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
SHERMAN EDWARD WILLIAMS,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
_________________________
(August 11, 2011)
Before EDMONDSON and MARTIN, Circuit Judges, and HODGES,* District
Judge.
*
Honorable Wm. Terrell Hodges, United States District Judge for the Middle District of
Florida, sitting by designation.
PER CURIAM:
A jury convicted Sherman Williams (“Defendant”) of armed bank robbery
and brandishing a firearm during a violent crime. Defendant appeals, asserting
that the jury lacked sufficient evidence to convict him and that the district court
erred in sentencing him. We affirm Defendant’s conviction. But because the
sentence was not adequately explained, we vacate Defendant’s sentence and
remand for resentencing.
I. BACKGROUND
Defendant owned a business that provided cleaning services to a bank.
Evidence adduced at trial established that Defendant and his co-defendant,
Arthaniel Smith, gained late-night access to the bank using a key that Defendant
obtained for purposes of cleaning the bank. Defendant and Smith waited
overnight in the bank and then forced a teller to open the vault in the morning.
Defendant and Smith took $219,180 from the vault and left the bank. Police
apprehended Defendant and Smith shortly thereafter. Both Defendant and Smith
spoke with police and admitted committing the robbery.
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Defendant was indicted on two counts: armed bank robbery and brandishing
a firearm during a crime of violence. At trial, Defendant testified that Smith
forced him to commit the robbery against his will by threatening to kill Defendant
if he did not participate. The jury convicted Defendant on both counts.
Defendant raised several objections to the proposed sentence enhancements,
including an objection to the enhancement for abduction of the bank teller. The
district court overruled Defendant’s objections and sentenced Defendant to 219
months’ incarceration.
Defendant now appeals, arguing that insufficient evidence supports his
conviction and that the district court erred in applying the sentencing guidelines.
II. DISCUSSION
A. Sufficiency of the Evidence
Defendant first argues that insufficient evidence supports his conviction.
The jury convicted Defendant of violating 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 2113(a) and (d), and
924(c)(1)(A). Defendant argues that “evidence presented at trial clearly
established that [defendant] was acting under the duress of [his co-defendant].”
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Defendant also argues that “[defendant] did not possess a gun during the
commission of this robbery and did not brandish a firearm against the victim, he
acted to protect her.”
Defendant did not move for a judgment of acquittal at the close of the
government’s case or at the close of all of the evidence. We affirm unless it would
result in a manifest miscarriage of justice. See United States v. Bichsel,
156 F.3d
1148, 1150 (11th Cir. 1998).
Evidence adduced at trial established that Defendant pointed a gun at the
bank teller and instructed her to open the vault; walked the teller to the security
panel to disarm the vault alarm; and drove the getaway car. Police found loaded
guns, a glove covered in dye from the bank’s dye pack, and an identification card
for Defendant in the getaway car. Defendant stated in his police interview that he
carried a gun during the robbery, exercised free will in choosing to participate in
the crime with his co-defendant, knew the bank’s schedule because he used to
clean it, and participated in planning the robbery with his co-defendant.
Defendant testified at trial that he did not carry a gun and was coerced into
participation by his co-defendant. But “when a defendant chooses to testify, he
runs the risk that if disbelieved ‘the jury might conclude the opposite of his
testimony is true.’” United States v. Brown,
53 F.3d 312, 314 (11th Cir. 1995)
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(quoting Atkins v. Singletary,
965 F.2d 952, 961 n.7 (11th Cir. 1992)). The jury
had sufficient evidence from which to conclude that Defendant committed the
charged offenses; no manifest injustice has been shown.
B. Defendant’s Sentence
About the calculation of the Sentencing Guidelines range, Defendant argues
that the district court erred by applying the four-point “abduction” enhancement to
his sentence instead of the two-point “physically restraining” enhancement.1
At Defendant’s sentencing, the government and Defendant’s counsel
disagreed about whether the two-point “physical restraint” enhancement or the
four-point “abduction” enhancement applied to Defendant’s conduct. The district
court judge first said that sufficient evidence existed to show that the bank teller
was physically restrained, but the judge then said that this restraint warranted a
four-point increase, which is inconsistent with (too much for) the enhancement for
just physical restraint. When asked for clarification, the sentencing judge first
stated that he intended to apply the abduction enhancement, but after that said
1
Defendant also says the district court erred in applying the sentence enhancement for
obstruction of justice and that the district court erred in failing to apply a minor role sentence
reduction; we conclude these arguments are without merit.
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these words: “[The teller] was just held. I better leave it at that.” Still,
Defendant’s sentence included the four-point enhancement: the point value
corresponding to the abduction enhancement.
When considering claims of errors in sentencing, we “must first ensure that
the district court committed no significant procedural error, such as failing to
calculate (or improperly calculating) the Guidelines range, . . . or failing to
adequately explain the chosen sentence.” Gall v. United States,
128 S. Ct. 586,
597 (2007) (emphasis added). Under these circumstances, our ability to engage in
appellate review is limited: the record includes no adequate explanation for the
application of the four-point abduction sentencing enhancement. We vacate and
remand so the district court can resentence Defendant without procedural error.
III. CONCLUSION
Defendant has shown no error in his conviction. But we vacate his sentence
and remand for resentencing.
AFFIRMED in part, VACATED in part; REMANDED.
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