Armed robbery is a serious felony that can carry decades behind bars.
A person commits armed robbery by stealing property from someone else using violence or intimidation and while carrying a dangerous weapon.
In most states, “armed robbery” is not a distinct crime. Instead, defendants are charged with a type of robbery known as "first-degree robbery" or "aggravated robbery." Using a dangerous weapon constitutes an aggravating factor, which makes the crime more serious than simple robbery, which doesn’t involve a weapon.
What Is Armed Robbery?
Armed robbery involves multiple elements. A prosecutor must generally prove all the elements of theft—taking and carrying away another's property intending to permanently deprive the owner of the property—plus that the defendant stole from a victim's person or presence, used or threatened violence or intimidation, and used a dangerous weapon.
How Do Prosecutors Prove Armed Robbery Charges?
The prosecution must prove every element of the crime for a conviction. Unless the jury finds beyond a reasonable doubt that each element has been proven, they must acquit the defendant (find the defendant not guilty). Let's dive into the elements.
Taking Property From Another Person
Robbery begins when someone takes personal property that someone else possesses, without the person’s consent. The victim need not actually own the item taken; it’s enough to have mere possession. For example, forcefully taking a library book from someone would qualify, even though the victim doesn’t own the book.
Taking Property From Another’s Person or Presence
Unlike simple theft (like taking an item from a store), robbery involves taking something from a person. This includes not only taking something from one’s physical grasp or control but also taking something from someone’s presence.
Items that are within a person's presence are close to the victim and within their control. For instance, locking a clerk in a storeroom after forcing the clerk to open the safe would constitute robbery, because the safe was under the clerk's control. Put another way: The money in the safe was within the clerk’s control because the clerk could have prevented the taking but for the robber’s threats or violence.
Some states, however, don’t require that the item be taken from the person or their presence. In these states, the use of violence or threats in conjunction with a theft will suffice.
Carrying Away the Property
The law requires that the defendant actually carry the property away, even slightly. Sometimes, merely exercising control over the item taken will suffice. For instance, intending to take a camera, a thief places their hands on the case that hangs from the victim’s shoulder. Although the thief is stopped before moving it, in most states, this act would suffice for “control.”
Intending to Permanently Deprive the Possessor
The person who has taken another’s property must have intended at the time to permanently deprive the victim of that property. Taking something with the intent of using it in a way that creates a high likelihood that it will be permanently lost is also sufficient. For example, taking a cell phone with the intent of using it and abandoning it creates a substantial risk that it will never be returned.
Taking by Violence or Intimidation
Taking someone’s property is robbery when any amount of force is used to obtain it. Pushing someone down, hitting someone, and wresting something from the victim’s grasp are all examples of violence. There need not be a lot of force—a light shove or the snapping of a purse strap will do.
Robbery can also be accomplished by intimidating someone—placing someone in fear. But in some states, that fear must be reasonable—the response of any ordinary person in the position of the victim. Other states will count a victim’s unreasonable response (the response of someone unusually susceptible to threats), as long as it was triggered by the defendant’s actions.
Traditionally, the threat needed to be imminent and one of serious injury, death, or destruction to a victim's home. For example, threatening to harm the victim's family member in six months is not imminent enough to qualify as a threat.
Involving a Dangerous Weapon
As explained above, “armed robbery” is usually charged as aggravated robbery, which requires the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon.
There’s little debate whether a functioning firearm qualifies as a deadly or dangerous weapon. But other objects can qualify, as long as they are inherently deadly or, if not, used in a manner that causes or is likely to cause serious physical injury or death. Many debates surround items like stationary objects, canes, animals, parts of the human body, and vehicles.
Using or Carrying a Dangerous Weapon
The final element of armed robbery involves using the deadly or dangerous weapon. A defendant clearly does so when hitting the victim or firing a gun, but brandishing the weapon or carrying it and threatening to use it also counts.
What Are Defenses to Armed Robbery?
A common defense to armed robbery is mistaken identity. Some states may allow a claim that a defendant can't commit robbery by stealing their own property.
It wasn't me. Those who are charged with armed robbery always have available the defense of “mistaken identity”—that a robbery may have occurred, but the defendant didn’t do it. Sometimes the defendant can present an alibi to establish the defendant was in fact somewhere else when the robbery was committed.
That's my property. Some states may allow a claim by the defendant that they were only taking their property. Technically, because robbery requires taking the property of another with the intent to permanently deprive that person of it (see above), if the defendant was retaking what was theirs, the prosecution wouldn't be able to prove this element of the offense. But most states will not entertain this defense, on the grounds that it encourages dangerous self-help measures that all too often lead to injuries and worse.
How Is Armed Robbery Punished?
Robbery is a felony crime, regardless of the value of the items taken. Most states punish aggravated robbery, which involves dangerous or deadly weapons, including firearms, quite harshly. A convicted defendant could easily face 20 years or more in prison.
Getting Legal Help
As with any felony charge, it's essential to consult with a criminal defense attorney as early as possible in the case. If you can't afford an attorney, ask the court for a public defender. An experienced defense attorney can help you understand the charges against you and the weight of the evidence the prosecution intends to produce. Your attorney can also assess your chances of a dismissal, reduced charges, or plea bargain, or the likely consequences should you go to trial as charged.
