## Facts

- Sharon Kay Simpson participated with her boyfriend, Mark Grotte, in planning a bank robbery in which Grotte would enter the bank armed with a loaded .357 magnum and Simpson would act as the getaway driver.
- Grotte carried and used the firearm during the robbery; Simpson drove the getaway car after the robbery.
- Simpson helped conceal the firearm and the robbery proceeds.
- The government charged Simpson with aiding and abetting armed bank robbery under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2(a), 2113(d) and, after she refused to testify against Grotte, added a second count charging aiding and abetting the use or carrying of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2(a), 924(c)(1).
- A jury convicted Simpson on both counts.
- At sentencing, the district court reduced Simpson’s sentence on the robbery count based on her relatively minor role but imposed the mandatory consecutive five-year term required by § 924(c)(1) on the firearm count.

## Issues

1. Whether a defendant who did not personally use or carry a firearm may be convicted of a § 924(c)(1) offense through aiding-and-abetting liability under 18 U.S.C. § 2(a).
2. Whether § 924(c)(1)’s mandatory consecutive minimum sentence applies to an aider and abettor to the same extent as to a principal.
3. Whether the evidence and instructions adequately established the mental state necessary for aiding and abetting a § 924(c)(1) offense, including knowledge that a firearm would be used.

## Decision

- The Eighth Circuit affirmed Simpson’s convictions and sentence.
- The court held that § 924(c)(1) applies to aiders and abettors through § 2(a) when the defendant knowingly associates with and facilitates the underlying violent crime in which a firearm is used or carried.
- The court concluded the evidence supported that Simpson was an active participant in the armed robbery and knew the firearm would be used in committing the crime.
- The court held § 924(c)(1) unambiguously required imposition of the mandatory consecutive five-year sentence on Simpson despite her lesser role in the overall offense.

## Legal Principles

- Under 18 U.S.C. § 2(a), an aider and abettor is punishable as a principal when she associates with the criminal venture, participates in it, and acts to make it succeed.
- A defendant may be convicted for aiding and abetting a § 924(c)(1) violation when she knowingly facilitates a crime of violence in which a firearm is used or carried, even if she never personally handles the gun.
- When the elements of § 924(c)(1) are met, the statute imposes a mandatory, consecutive term of imprisonment; that mandatory minimum applies equally to aiders and abettors treated as principals under § 2(a).
- A sentencing court’s discretion to account for a lesser role in the underlying offense does not authorize reduction or avoidance of § 924(c)(1)’s required consecutive term.

## Conclusion

The Eighth Circuit held that a knowing, active participant in an armed bank robbery may be convicted as an aider and abettor of a § 924(c)(1) firearm offense and must receive the statute’s mandatory consecutive sentence, even when the participant did not personally use or carry the firearm and received a reduced sentence on the underlying robbery count.


United States v. Simpson, 979 F.2d 1282 (8th Cir. 1992)