United States v. Jesse Louis Nelson and Benny Lee White

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge:

Defendants-appellants Jesse Louis Nelson and Benny Lee White were charged with bank robbery in a two-count indictment. The government’s theory of the case was that appellant Nelson was the principal, and that he alone entered the bank with a handgun and by using it robbed the bank and put the lives of the bank employees in jeopardy, while appellant White aided and abetted Nelson in the crime by waiting for him in the getaway car outside of the bank.

Nelson and White were apprehended after a high-speed chase during which the police fired at the tires of their car. The…