Ronald DeWitt Vines v. United States

This case implicates multiple acknowledged circuit splits as to how the categorical approach should apply to 18 U.S.C. § 2113, the federal bank robbery statute. Petitioner was convicted of one count under § 2113(d), based on an attempt to commit a violation of § 2113(a), and a second count under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The first paragraph of § 2113(a) provides that, “[w]hoever by force and violence, or by intimidation, takes, or attempts to take, from the person or presence of another, or obtains or attempts to obtain by extortion any property or money” belonging to a bank, shall be guilty of a crime. The circuits have split 5-1 as to whether this provision is divisible. And the circuits have further split 4-3 as to whether attempted bank robbery is a crime of violence under § 924(c). Section 2113(d) complicates things even more. It punishes anyone who, “in attempting to commit, any offense defined in subsection[] (a) . . . assaults any person, or puts in jeopardy the life of any person by the use of a dangerous weapon or device.” The circuits have divided over the elements necessary to sustain a conviction under this subsection as well. The question presented is: Whether attempted armed bank robbery under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d) and the first paragraph of § 2113(a) involves the “use, attempted use, or threatened use of force” in all possible hypothetical circumstances, such that it qualifies as a crime of violence under § 924(c).