United States v. Owens

REILLY, Chief Judge:

What may well be described as another symptom of the disease besetting the usage of the English language has brought to this court a controversy over the meaning of the verb “steal.” 1 Drawn into issue by the government’s appeal is a pretrial order dismissing without prejudice three counts of an indictment charging (1) a killing in perpetrating the crime of robbery (defined as murder in D.C.Code 1973, § 22-2401), (2) armed robbery (id. §§ 22-2901, 22-3202), and (3) robbery (id. § 22-2901).

The court below held that the robbery count was constitutionally defective in that…