United States v. Phillip Dale Selfa

Appellant Phillip Selfa appealed his sentence under the Sentencing Guidelines following a plea of guilty to bank robbery, aiding and abetting, and conspiracy. Selfa had already been convicted of two prior bank robberies in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a), and as a result, Selfa was determined to be a career criminal under section 4B1.1 of the Guidelines and his sentence was enhanced.

Selfa’s principal contention on appeal was that on this record, he should not have been sentenced as a career criminal under section 4B1.1. [2] Selfa argued that since he was unarmed and he neither harmed nor threatened to harm anyone in any way during the robberies, they were not crimes of violence and that section 4B1.1 does not support a per se rule that all robberies are crimes of violence. [3] However, Selfa was twice convicted of violating section 2113(a) which requires, at the very least, either force and violence or intimidation. [4] The court held therefore, that persons convicted of section 2113(a) have been convicted of a crime of violence within the meaning of Guidelines section 4B1.1 and concluded that the elements of the crimes for which Selfa was previously convicted, and not his…