United States v. Michael J. Stoops

Opinion by Judge BEEZER.

Michael Stoops appeals the sentence imposed under the United States Sentencing Guidelines following his plea of guilty to one count of bank robbery. Stoops received a two-level downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3El.l(a). He contends that the district court erred by denying him an additional one-level reduction pursuant to § 3El.l(b). We vacate the sentence and remand.

I

On August 13, 1992, Stoops approached a teller in a First Interstate Bank branch and handed her a demand note. He falsely claimed to have a firearm. The teller gave him approximately $1,890, and Stoops fled the bank.

Stoops was apprehended within minutes, after a bank patron gave police officers Stoops’ license-plate number. The arresting officers advised Stoops of his constitutional rights. Stoops agreed to answer questions, confessed to the crime, and told the officers that the stolen money and the demand note were in a bag behind the passenger seat of his motor vehicle. Stoops was positively identified by the bank teller and two bank patrons. He repeated his admissions to other police officers at the jail, and later to FBI agents.

Stoops was…