Robbery Lawyer in St. Louis

Robbery Charges in Missouri

Robbery is one of the original felonies under English and American common law. Then, as now, this offense was considered a violent crime rather than a property crime. In the common law, robbery occurred when the offender took the victim’s property using force or the threat of force.

As a felony, robbery in early America was punished with long prison sentences and hard labor. Moreover, a legal theory known as “felony murder” applied to robbery. Under this theory, an offender could be convicted of murder and face capital punishment if they killed anyone during a robbery, even inadvertently.

One example of this scenario is when a bank guard has a heart attack and dies as a result of shock during an armed robbery. Applying the felony murder rule, the bank robber could have been charged with murder in the old days.

Since the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, due process protocols dictate that criminal laws must be written. As such, criminal defense lawyers and offenders know the elements prosecutors must prove to secure a conviction for robbery.

Missouri Statutes on Robbery and Related Offenses

The Missouri Revised Statutes include a chapter on robbery, stealing, and related offenses. This chapter contains two statutes addressing robbery. It also includes lesser stealing offenses that may provide an opportunity for plea deals when you face robbery charges.

These offenses include the following:

First-Degree Robbery

Prosecutors can pursue first-degree robbery charges when someone forcibly steals another person’s property and the offender or an accomplice:

• Causes a serious physical injury
• Has a deadly weapon
• Threatens to use or uses a dangerous instrument
• Shows or threatens to use something that seems to be a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon
• Steals a controlled substance from a pharmacy

This statute includes many legal terms. To forcibly steal property, the accused must have used or threatened to use physical force. Moreover, prosecutors must show that the purpose of the force falls into one of the following categories:

• Preventing or overcoming the victim’s resistance to the theft or attempt to recover the property
• Compelling the victim to hand over the property or otherwise aid in the theft

Serious physical injury applies to any injury that causes disfigurement, protracted impairment, or substantial risk of death. A deadly weapon, meanwhile, includes any of the following:

• Loaded or unloaded firearm
• Weapon from which a shot capable of death or serious physical injury may be discharged
• Switchblade or dagger
• Billy club, blackjack, or metal knuckles

A dangerous instrument is any instrument, article, or substance readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury. Thus, cars, poison, and bombs would all qualify as dangerous instruments but not deadly weapons.

Notably, both unloaded firearms and facsimile firearms or bombs can be used to commit first-degree robbery. Consequently, showing a bank teller a fake bomb or waving a replica gun could result in these charges.

Second-Degree Robbery

Second-degree robbery occurs when someone forcibly steals property and causes physical injury to the victim in the process. Physical injury can include any pain or impairment, including welts and bruises. Many robbery charges depend on the severity of the victim’s injuries and how they received them.

Keep in mind that the connection between the force and the injury doesn’t need to be direct. If the accused wrenched the property out of the victim’s hands with such force that the victim lost their balance and fell, the accused still technically injured them. The severity of the charges will depend on the nature of the injury.

Stealing

The use of force and threats distinguish robbery from stealing. However, Missouri’s definition of stealing includes “physically taking” property from the victim’s person. There’s a fine line between physically taking property from someone and forcibly taking their property in some cases.

For example, a pickpocket might commit theft without committing robbery by avoiding injuring the victim. However, purse snatching could be charged as second-degree robbery if the victim holds onto the strap and the accused strikes or shoves them in an effort to dislodge the bag.

Even if the victim only suffers shoulder pain, their injury may be enough to justify robbery charges.

Second-Degree Murder

One of the most deeply entrenched and controversial doctrines in American law is felony murder. In Missouri, you can face second-degree murder charges if someone is killed during the perpetration or attempted perpetration of a robbery or while fleeing afterward.

This definition includes unintentional deaths. Prosecutors can charge someone with robbery and murder if they run over a pedestrian as they flee from a bank robbery, even though the collision was an accident.

However, by using the word “kills” in the statute, prosecutors must show that the accused directly caused the death. A death that was entirely coincidental with the robbery shouldn’t result in a second-degree murder conviction.

Defenses to Robbery Charges in St. Louis, MO

A skilled criminal defense lawyer can raise many potential defenses to your robbery charges. The best strategy for your case depends on your charges and your version of what occurred. Some of the possible arguments include the following:

No Force or Threats

Robbery requires the accused to use force or threats of force. More importantly, the force must be directed to overcoming the victim or compelling them to give up the property.

A criminal defense attorney can argue that you didn’t use force or threats to take the property. If this strategy is successful, you might still face stealing charges but avoid more serious robbery charges.

Similarly, your attorney can argue that the force was incidental to the stealing or not directed at the victim. Kicking out a door to escape after a theft involves force, but not the type indicated by the robbery statutes. Again, this scenario might result in lesser charges of burglary or stealing.

Alibi

An alibi is an account of whereabouts and events that places you outside the crime scene when the offense took place.

Robberies are highly stressful and traumatic for victims, making it easy for misidentification to occur. If you get misidentified as a robber, your lawyer can use eyewitness testimony, cell phone location data, or photographic evidence to place you somewhere other than the crime scene.

Your Property

Robbery requires you to steal another party’s property — you can’t steal your own property. If what you took was yours, you have a claim of right to possess it. Without the element of theft, prosecutors can’t prosecute you for robbery.

Defense of Property

You can use reasonable force to defend yourself or others or protect your property.

Suppose that you and a neighbor get into a scuffle over a lawn mower that you each claim to own. Ownership of the lawn mower might determine who faces robbery and assault charges. Your attorney can gather financial documents and witness information to prove your ownership of the disputed property.