United States v. Raymond Craig Wilson, United States of America v. Wilbert Polk

On March 6, 1970, at approximately 2:00 P.M., Dean Antone entered the Eugene Branch of the Oregon Bank of Portland (sometimes referred to as “the bank”), approached a teller window and ordered the teller on duty to empty her purse of its contents and to replenish it with money. After having fled the scene of the robbery by running “through an alley,” Antone threw the “money bag” “into the bushes” near a white building and then “hopped into [an awaiting] car” driven by Patricia Dawson. Dawson drove Antone to his dormitory on the campus of the University of Oregon and then returned to the apartment she shared with Polk and Wilson and the latter’s brother, Stewart. At a jury trial, appellants were found guilty of inducing, aiding and abetting the said bank robbery, a violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 2113(a).

The appellants testified in their own defense. Their testimony was couched in exculpatory claims of innocence and assertions that Dawson was the instigator and co-ordinator of the bank robbery in issue. As indicated by the verdict, the triers of fact failed to lend credence to this testimony. Accordingly, we are bound on appeal to view the evidence in the light most favorable to…