United States v. Myers

550 F.2d 1036 (1977)

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United States v. Myers

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
550 F.2d 1036 (1977)

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Facts

A lone gunman robbed a Florida bank. Law enforcement suspected the gunman was Larry Myers (defendant) but struggled to apprehend him. Approximately three weeks after the Florida robbery, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents followed Myers’s girlfriend to a shopping mall, where she met with Myers. A plainclothes agent spotted Myers, but Myers left quickly before he could be arrested. Three weeks later, Myers and Dennis Coffie robbed a Pennsylvania bank. After that robbery, Myers and Coffie were riding a motorcycle in California when an FBI agent drove at them in an unmarked vehicle, causing them to stop. There was conflicting testimony about whether Myers and Coffie attempted to flee the scene before FBI agents identified themselves and arrested the men. Myers was convicted under state law for committing the Pennsylvania robbery. Myers was then charged under federal law for the Florida robbery. The initial federal trial ended in a hung jury. At a second federal trial, the district court instructed the jury that a defendant’s intentional flight from law enforcement could be considered as a factor tending to show a guilty conscience. The jury convicted Myers on the federal robbery charges. Myers appealed to the Fifth Circuit, arguing, among other things, that the district court had erred in issuing the flight instruction.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Clark, J.)

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