United States v. Leevaughn Toney

MERRITT, Circuit Judge.

After a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, appellant Toney was convicted of bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), and was sentenced to fifteen years’ imprisonment. We reverse (1) because of an erroneous ruling by the trial court which prevented Toney from presenting evidence critical to his defense; and (2) because of the prosecutor’s closing argument which, although obviously calculated to exploit the error, rendered it fatal instead.

I

On June 14, 1977, three masked men robbed the federally-insured Home Savings…