People v. Dawson CA6

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND2

A. Facts and Charges On January 25, 2013, Dawson, who was then 53 years old and on parole, entered a bank in San Jose wearing a hat and sunglasses and holding a rag over his face. He ran into some of the standing signs in the bank while approaching the bank tellers and smelled of alcohol. He yelled multiple times that he had a friend outside who had a gun and would start shooting and demanded the tellers give him “ ‘all the money.’ ” Dawson “grabbed at his pants” and witnesses thought he might have been armed. He handed a plastic bag to three bank tellers in succession and walked out with $2,494. Dawson attempted to flee in a taxi, but police stopped the vehicle and apprehended him. A person working at an auto care shop near the bank reported to the police that, immediately before the robbery, Dawson had asked him for gloves and a plastic bag. The employee provided Dawson a pair of latex gloves but did not give him a plastic bag. He observed Dawson walk over to a taxi and begin speaking with its driver. The taxi driver reported that he had been dispatched to pick up a customer at the auto care shop. Dawson

2 These facts are drawn from the…