United States v. Donald Douglas Franklin, Jr., United States of America v. William Edward Piers

Donald Douglas Franklin, Jr., (“Franklin”) and William Edward Piers (“Piers”) planned the armed robbery of a credit union. The robbery itself was carried out by Piers and Raymond Hubbard (“Hubbard”). Franklin appeals the sentence entered on his guilty pleas to charges stemming from the robbery, and Piers appeals his six convictions. We have jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3742 and 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

BACKGROUND

Piers and Franklin decided to rob the credit union where Franklin worked. Franklin provided Piers with security information, details of credit union operations and procedures, and the location of the vault. Franklin and Piers developed a written plan for the robbery and their escape. At his plea hearing, Franklin acknowledged that they planned to use handguns “in a threatening manner” during the robbery. On October 15, 1999, Piers and Franklin approached the credit union with the intent to execute their plan, but got into an argument and abandoned their attempt.

On June 27, 2000, Piers and Hubbard succeeded in committing the robbery. Piers and Hubbard drove to the credit union in a stolen van and waited for employees to…