## Facts

- Beacher Drell Roach was prosecuted in the Northern District of Georgia for a bank robbery in Dallas, Georgia, and for carrying a firearm during the commission of a felony.
- Two masked, armed men robbed the bank, and bank personnel believed a third person waited outside in a getaway car.
- The robbers took cash and a security package containing a dye device designed to emit a red, tear-gas-like substance shortly after removal; it discharged soon after the robbery.
- Police quickly received descriptions of the robbers and the getaway vehicle.
- The government’s main witness was Brenda Jackson, the girlfriend of Roach’s co-defendant (Ronnie Lee Stewart), who testified that she drove the getaway car while Roach and Stewart robbed the bank.
- Jackson testified that the dye pack exploded while they were fleeing, making it difficult to see; Roach then switched places with her and drove; Stewart threw a shotgun out of the car and later fled with the stolen money.
- A deputy sheriff, alerted by radio to the vehicle description, stopped the car shortly after the robbery; after Roach and Jackson exited, the deputy saw a large red stain on the front seat, gloves on the floorboard, and a white shirt on the back seat through the windows.
- Roach and Jackson were placed in the patrol car; before questioning, Jackson asked why they were being arrested, and Roach told her, “Shut up, you know why.”
- Jackson had emotional problems and a history of drug use in the months before trial; about three months before Roach’s trial she had been psychiatrically evaluated and found competent to stand trial in her own case.
- Roach asked the district court to conduct an additional competency proceeding to determine whether Jackson was competent to testify; the court held a preliminary hearing where Jackson answered questions from both sides’ lawyers lucidly and responsively, though the judge did not question her, and the court found her competent to testify.
- Roach had a preliminary hearing without counsel, and no transcript of that preliminary hearing was available on appeal.

## Issues

1. Whether the absence of counsel at Roach’s preliminary hearing, combined with the lack of any transcript, required reversal or a remand to determine prejudice.
2. Whether the district court erred by allowing Brenda Jackson to testify without ordering a fuller psychiatric examination or more extensive competency proceeding.
3. Whether, under Simpson v. United States, Roach’s conviction and sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(2) could stand in addition to his conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d) for the same firearm-related conduct.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit remanded for the district court to determine whether Roach was prejudiced by the uncounseled preliminary hearing and the absence of a transcript.
- The court vacated Roach’s conviction and sentence on the § 924(c)(2) count because cumulative punishment with § 2113(d) was barred under Simpson and controlling circuit precedent.
- The court affirmed the district court’s determination that Brenda Jackson was competent to testify and rejected Roach’s remaining claims of trial error.

## Legal Principles

- When a defendant had no counsel at a preliminary hearing and no transcript exists, an appellate court may remand for a factual determination of prejudice because the existing record may not permit meaningful harmless-error review.
- Under Simpson v. United States, a defendant generally may not receive cumulative punishment under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d) and 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) for the same firearm use in a bank robbery absent clear congressional authorization.
- A trial court has broad discretion to determine a witness’s competency; a witness’s emotional instability or drug use typically bears on credibility rather than legal competency when the witness can understand questions and respond coherently.
- An appellate court may vacate an unlawful conviction or sentence required by controlling law even if the defendant did not press the issue in the trial court or on appeal.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit vacated Roach’s § 924(c)(2) firearm conviction under Simpson, upheld the trial court’s decision to permit Brenda Jackson’s testimony after a competency hearing where she appeared lucid and responsive, and remanded the bank-robbery conviction for the district court to decide whether the uncounseled, unrecorded preliminary hearing caused prejudice.


United States v. Roach, 590 F.2d 181 (1979)