People v. Hays
California Courts of Appeal
195 Cal. Rptr. 252 (1983)
Bookkeeper Marsha Pederson was working in a second-floor office housing a drug store's safes when Charles Lee Hays (defendant), his face covered and carrying a sawed-off rifle, crashed through the ceiling above her, prompting her to scream and flee in fear; property from the office was later recovered from Hays's accomplice father. Hays was convicted of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, and appealed his robbery conviction, arguing insufficient evidence the property was taken from the victim's person or immediate presence since she had fled the room.
Whether robbery's requirement that property be taken from the victim's person or immediate presence is satisfied when the victim was forced to flee the property's vicinity by the robber's own threatening actions.