George Lee Mims, Sr. was prosecuted for an attempt to enter the Madeira Beach Bank with intent to rob it by force and violence and by intimidation. The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida entered a judgment of conviction, and Mims appealed. The Court of Appeals reversed and sent the case back for retrial.

Facts 

George Lee Mims, Sr. (Appellant) was a middle-aged mechanic who had been employed at the municipal garage in Treasure Island, Florida, near Madeira Beach, for several years prior to the incidents here involved. His wife died in March 1962, leaving him with two children by their marriage. One of them was George Lee Mims, Jr., 13 years of age, and the other was a daughter several years older. Within less than 60 days after the death of his wife, he and a married woman with two children had agreed to marry each other if she could persuade her husband to get a divorce. There was some delay about the divorce, and she moved into appellant’s house with her children in the middle of June, and continued to live there with him without benefit of clergy until they married shortly before the trial in the following year.....

1. List all of the facts and circumstances relevant to deciding whether George Lee Mims Sr. attempted to rob the bank.

2. Assume you’re the prosecutor. On the facts and circumstances available from the excerpt, argue that the case went far enough beyond preparation to satisfy the actus reus element.

3. Now, assume you’re the defense attorney. On the facts and circumstances available from the excerpt, argue that the case went no further than preparation.

4. Now, you be the judge. Write an opinion deciding the case, relying on your answers to 2 and 3.