Reference no: EM133810460
Question
Desperately in need of money, a farmer and his wife decided to rob a local bank. They spent several weeks gathering information on the bank and meticulously planning every detail of the robbery. Only after they were satisfied that they had a foolproof plan did they decide to go ahead with the robbery. On the day designated for the robbery, the farmer, as part of the plan, entered the bank posing as a customer seeking to make a deposit. A few moments later, the farmer's wife entered, approached one of the tellers and handed him a note instructing him to place $50,000 in small bills in a bag the wife had handed him. The note also stated that there was another person in the bank wearing a bomb, and that he would detonate it, killing everyone inside, if the teller tried to alert anyone. The teller placed the money in the bag and handed it back to the wife. As she turned to leave the bank, she bumped into another customer, causing the bag to fall to the floor. When the bag hit the floor, it fell open and some of the money tumbled out. Seeing the money fall from the bag, one of the bank's security guards drew his gun and shouted to the wife to freeze. The farmer started to run to his wife's defense, but another of the bank's security guards, who had been standing near the farmer, knocked him to the floor. The farmer and his wife were arrested and prosecuted in federal court on federal bank robbery charges. They were convicted, and each received a five-year sentence. The farmer and his wife were subsequently prosecuted in state court for conspiracy to commit bank robbery. What should be the outcome of this trial?
Guilty, because they agreed to rob the bank and performed an overt act in furtherance of the agreement. Not guilty, because the charge of conspiracy is always a lesser included offense of the target crime, such as bank robbery.Not guilty, because a prosecution for conspiracy to commit bank robbery after a conviction of bank robbery on the same facts constitutes double jeopardy.Not guilty, because the federal prosecution bars a subsequent prosecution on the same facts in state court.