United States v. Norfleet Lee Carter

CRAVEN, Circuit Judge.

In this appeal from a judgment of guilty of bank robbery, Carter assigns only one error: that he was entitled to have the district court instruct the jury that they could find him guilty of a lesser included offense. We agree that the failure to so instruct was error, and reverse and remand.

Government witness Karen Petrocelli, a teller at the Hamilton Bank and Trust Company in Reston, Virginia, testified that on January 31, 1975, Carter entered the bank and demanded money. She testified that he had his hand in his pocket and that he stated he had a gun. The government…