Whitfield v. United States (574 U.S. 265)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 13, 2015 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 574 U.S. 265 · 135 S. Ct. 785
- Decided
- January 13, 2015
- Term
- October Term 2014
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Scalia
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice SCALIAdelivered the opinion of the Court. Federal law establishes enhanced penalties for anyone who "forces any person to accompany him" in the course of committing or fleeing from a bank robbery. 18 U.S.C. § 2113(e). We consider whether this provision applies when a bank robber forces someone to move with him over a short distance. I Petitioner Larry Whitfield, fleeing police after a botched bank robbery, entered the home of 79-year-old Mary Parnell through an unlocked door. Once inside, he encountered a terrified Parnell and guided her from the hallway to a computer room (which Whitfield estimates was between four and nine feet away. Brief for Petitioner 5). There, Parnell suffered a fatal heart attack. Whitfield fled, and was found hiding nearby. A grand jury indicted Whitfield for, among other things, violating § 2113(e)by forcing Parnell to accompany him in the course of avoiding apprehension for a bank robbery. That section provides: "Whoever, in committing any offense defined in this section, or in avoiding or attempting to avoid apprehension for the commission of such offense ... forces any person to accompany him without the consent of such person,shall be imprisoned not less than ten years, or if death results shall be punished by death or life imprisonment." (Emphasis added.) Whitfield pleaded not guilty to the offense but a jury convicted him. On appeal,…
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