United States v. Robert Charles Webb

Convicted of armed robbery of a Savings and Loan Association ( 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a), and (d)), Webb appeals. We reverse.

On October 27, 1970, a branch of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association in Anchorage, Alaska, was robbed. An employee, who was alone at the time, testified that two men, wearing green army style parkas and dark blue ski masks, one of them carrying a pistol, robbed the branch. She could not identify Webb as one of them. Two marked $100 bills were taken and were traced to Webb. This evidence, plus other circumstantial evidence, is the basis of the conviction.

At the trial the only really contested factual issue was whether Webb was one of the robbers. Over objection, the government was permitted to prove that on January 16, 1971, Webb was caught red-handed robbing a Ben Franklin Variety store in Anchorage, using a pistol. He was alone and wore a dark suit and white shirt, a wig, and a mask. It does not appear that the mask was a ski mask. The savings and loan employee testified that the pistol “looked exactly like the gun [one of the robbers] had pointed at” her.

The general rule is that evidence of other offenses is not admissible to show the…