In each of the following exercises, the assignment is to prepare an office memo. Each assignment contains an assignment memo from the supervising attorney that includes all the available facts of the case. Complete the memo based on these facts. If additional facts are needed, note this in the recommendations section of the memo. When preparing the heading of each assignment, use “Supervising Attorney” in the “To” line, and put your name after the “From.” Following each assignment is a reference to the applicable enacted and case law. In some assignments, the case citation includes a reference only to the regional reporter citation; the state reporter citation
is not included. Use only the citation presented in the assignment. The cases are presented in Appendix A. The first time you cite the opinion, use the full citation format for the citation you are given for the opinion in the assignment.

To: Paralegal
From: Supervising Attorney
Re: United States v. Canter; armed bank robbery with a dangerous weapon We have been appointed to represent Eldon Canter in the case of United States v. Canter. Mr. Canter is charged with one count of armed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) and (d).

On January 5 of this year, Mr. Canter robbed the First State Bank. After he entered the bank, he approached a teller and pulled from his pocket a crudely carved wooden replica of a 9 mm Beretta handgun. He had carved the replica from a block of
pinewood and stained it with dark walnut wood stain to make it look black. He drilled a hole in the barrel end in an attempt to make it look like a real Beretta.

The teller was so frightened that he only glanced at the wooden gun. He believed it was real. The teller at the next window looked at the replica and afterward stated that she was fairly certain at the time that it was fake. No one else noticed whether the wooden replica was real. Please determine whether, in light of the facts of this case, there is sufficient evidence to support the charge that Mr. Canter committed bank robbery by
use of a “dangerous weapon.”

Statutory Law: 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) & (d), Bank robbery and incidental crimes, provides:
(a) Whoever, by force and violence, or by intimidation, takes, or attempts to take, from the person or presence of another . . . any property or money or any other thing of value belonging to,
or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of, a bank. . . .

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
(d) Whoever, in committing, or in attempting to commit, any offense defined in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, assaults any person, or puts in jeopardy the life of any person by use of a dangerous weapon or device, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 25 years, or both.
Case Law: United States v. Martinez-Jimenez, 864 F.2d 664 (9th Cir. 1989) (see Appendix A).