## Facts

- Gregory Ward and Aishauna Ward, a married couple, participated in the October 26, 2001 robbery of a TCF Bank branch located inside a grocery store in Homewood, Illinois; Aishauna worked there as a teller.
- Aishauna volunteered to cover a morning shift; only one other teller, Shantel James, was present.
- James observed Aishauna speaking with a man near the teller line; moments later Aishauna brought the man—now masked and wearing a hooded coat—into the bank’s enclosed office.
- The man pointed a gun at James and demanded money; Aishauna filled a bag with about $209,000 from the vault.
- Aishauna passed multiple silent-alarm stations and a vault alarm without activating any alarm and did not include an available dye pack in the money.
- After returning with the cash, Aishauna went back to the vault unescorted and retrieved the particular surveillance tape recording the robbery.
- During a later discussion in an apartment where the stolen money was allegedly kept, Gregory’s sister stated in Gregory’s presence that the missing money was “the money they got when they robbed the bank,” and Gregory did not deny it.
- Shortly afterward, Gregory stated: “Something got to give or else I’m gon’ catch a murder before I go back to jail.”

## Issues

1. Whether the district court properly admitted a third party’s incriminating statement, made in Gregory Ward’s presence and not denied by him, as an adoptive admission under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(B).
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient to support Gregory Ward’s convictions for conspiracy, bank robbery, and using a firearm during a crime of violence.
3. Whether the evidence supported Aishauna Ward’s participation as a knowing inside accomplice and whether sentencing errors required relief.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed both defendants’ convictions.
- The court held the sister’s “robbed the bank” statement was admissible as Gregory Ward’s adoptive admission under Rule 801(d)(2)(B).
- The court found the record contained sufficient evidence, including circumstantial evidence and Gregory’s own statements, to sustain Gregory Ward’s convictions.
- The court found strong circumstantial evidence supported the jury’s determination that Aishauna Ward knowingly assisted the robbery.
- The court remanded both cases for resentencing.

## Legal Principles

- Under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(B), a statement is admissible as an adoptive admission when it is made in the defendant’s presence, the defendant understood it, and the defendant had an opportunity to respond but did not deny it in circumstances that would ordinarily call for a denial.
- A defendant’s silence in response to an accusation may permit a jury to infer adoption of the statement when the context makes denial the natural reaction of an innocent person.
- Consciousness-of-guilt evidence, including threatening or self-inculpatory remarks, may support the inference that the defendant accepted the truth of an incriminating statement and may reinforce other evidence of participation.
- Circumstantial evidence may be sufficient to prove participation in a bank robbery, including conduct consistent with inside assistance (failure to trigger available alarms, avoiding dye packs, and selectively retrieving inculpatory surveillance recordings).

## Conclusion

The Seventh Circuit upheld the Wards’ bank-robbery-related convictions, ruling that a third party’s explicit statement tying Gregory Ward to the robbery proceeds was admissible as his adoptive admission when he heard it, understood it, and did not deny it under circumstances calling for a denial; the court nevertheless remanded for resentencing.


United States v. Ward, 377 F.3d 671 (7th Cir. 2004)