United States v. Washington

Background

The Robbery

On August 1, 2002, Eric Washington met with his co- conspirators, including Andrew Carter, Derrick Lindsey O’Neal and Joe Earl Alexander, to plan an armed bank rob- bery. According to the trial testimony, the conspirators dis- cussed who would carry guns. The conspirators then drove to the United California Bank in Commerce, California. Three of the conspirators entered and robbed the bank while Washing- ton acted as a lookout. Janett Guizar, a bank employee, testi- fied that one of the robbers pointed a gun at her and ordered her to open a teller drawer. There also was testimony that one UNITED STATES v. WASHINGTON 10731 of the robbers pointed a gun at two other bank employees and ordered them to give him the money from their teller drawers. After the robbery, Special Agent Peter Taglioretti of the FBI obtained a videotape from the bank’s surveillance cameras and developed multiple photographs of the robbers. Taglio- retti contacted the bank employees and presented them with a six-pack of photospreads of the robbers. Guizar identified Washington from a photospread as the lobby lookout. Another witness also identified Washington from the photo-…