United States v. Edward Frank Snell

This is the third appeal involving the prosecution of Edward Snell for his participation in an aborted kidnap and robbery scheme. In the first appeal, United States v. Snell, 550 F.2d 515 (9th Cir. 1977), the court affirmed Snell’s conviction for conspiracy to rob a federally insured bank, but reversed his conviction for attempted obstruction of commerce in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951 , on the ground that the conduct charged was within the exclusive coverage of 18 U.S.C. § 2113 . A new indictment was returned charging him with attempted robbery of a federally insured bank. Snell’s pretrial appeal of his motion to dismiss the new indictment on double jeopardy grounds was rejected in United States v. Snell, 592 F.2d 1083 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 944 , 99 S.Ct. 2889 , 61 L.Ed.2d 315 (1979). After a bench trial on the record of the former jury trial, Snell was found guilty of the new charge and appeals.

The facts of this case are recounted in the first Snell opinion, 550 F.2d at 517 . They show that Snell and two co-conspirators planned to kidnap a bank manager and his wife, hold the wife hostage while accompanying the manager to the bank to obtain…