Floyd J. Carter v. United States (530 U.S. 255)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 12, 2000 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 530 U.S. 255 · 120 S. Ct. 2159
- Decided
- June 12, 2000
- Term
- October Term 1999
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. In Schmuck v. United States, 489 U. S. 705 (1989), we held that a defendant who requests a jury instruction on a lesser offense under Rule 81(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure must demonstrate that “the elements of the lesser offense are a subset of the elements of the charged offense.” Id., at 716. This ease requires us to apply this elements test to the offenses described by 18 U. S. C. §§ 2113(a) and (b) (1994 ed. and Supp. IV). The former punishes “[wjhoever, by force and violence, or by intimidation, takes ... from the person or presence of another . . . any . . . thing of value belonging to, or in the . . . possession of, any bank . . . .” The latter, which entails less severe penalties, punishes, inter alia, “[wjhoever takes and carries away, with intent to steal or purloin, any . .. thing of value exceeding $1,000 belonging to, or in the . . . possession of, any bank . . . .” We hold that § 2113(b) requires an element not required by § 2113(a) — three in fact — and therefore is not a lesser included offense of § 2113(a). Petitioner is accordingly prohibited as a matter of law from obtaining a lesser included offense instruction on the offense described by § 2113(b). f — I On September 9, 1997, petitioner Floyd J. Carter donned a ski mask and entered the Collective Federal Savings Bank in Hamilton Township,…
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