## Facts

- David Vance and two accomplices (Alton Marshall and Henry Bluford) participated in two armed bank robberies in Chicago in 2007.
- During the second bank robbery, a bank teller was shot and killed.
- The night before the first bank robbery, the trio committed three restaurant robberies using methods similar to those used in the bank robberies.
- At Vance’s trial, Marshall testified about both the restaurant robberies and the bank robberies, describing the group’s methods and Vance’s role.
- Additional evidence linked Vance to the charged offenses, including DNA evidence and eyewitness identification.
- Marshall and Bluford pleaded guilty and received 20-year sentences; Vance proceeded to trial.

## Issues

1. Whether testimony about the restaurant robberies was inadmissible other-acts propensity evidence barred by Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b).
2. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 2113(e) authorized (or required) a life sentence when a death occurred during a bank robbery, or instead required both forced accompaniment and death.
3. Whether the district court could impose sentences consecutive to a life sentence and impose supervised release conditions when the defendant received a life term.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed Vance’s convictions and sentence.
- The court held the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence of the restaurant robberies under Rule 404(b) to prove identity/modus operandi, not propensity.
- The court upheld the life sentence under § 2113(e), rejecting a reading that would require both abduction and death as a prerequisite to life imprisonment.
- The court approved consecutive sentences and supervised release conditions alongside a life sentence as appropriate sentencing structure in the event the life term were later modified.

## Legal Principles

- Other-acts evidence may be admitted under Rule 404(b) for non-propensity purposes such as identity or modus operandi when similarities between the acts and the charged offense support an inference of common perpetration, subject to Rule 403 balancing.
- In construing a criminal statute, a court may reject a hyperliteral interpretation that defeats the statute’s evident function; § 2113(e) is properly read to authorize a life sentence when a death results from a bank robbery.
- Federal sentencing may include consecutive terms and supervised release conditions even when a defendant receives a life sentence, to preserve a coherent sentencing framework if the life sentence is later reduced or vacated.

## Conclusion

The Seventh Circuit affirmed Vance’s convictions for armed bank robbery and related offenses and upheld a life sentence under § 2113(e), concluding that evidence of closely similar prior robberies was admissible to show identity and that sentencing components such as consecutive terms and supervised release remain proper even when a life term is imposed.


United States v. Vance, 764 F.3d 667 (7th Cir. 2014)