United States v. Burnley
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
533 F.3d 901 (2008)
In four separate bank robberies, Walter Burnley (defendant), sometimes with accomplice Lisa Harding, calmly handed tellers empty bags and ordered them filled with money, on three occasions warning against including dye packs or bait bills; each teller complied, with some evidence of nervousness or fright, and the jury convicted Burnley on all four counts. On appeal, Burnley's new attorney argued for the first time that the government failed to prove the required force-or-threat element, though his trial counsel had never raised this argument and instead conceded robberies had occurred.
Whether calmly ordering bank tellers to hand over money, while warning against dye packs or bait bills but without an explicit threat or visible weapon, constitutes sufficient intimidation to satisfy the force-or-threat element of federal bank robbery.