On March 30, 1990, George Edward Pate III and an accomplice traveled from Des Moines to Ottumwa, where Pate robbed Union Bank and Trust of approximately $1,500.
The case would eventually reach the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, where judges considered whether a shotgun found in the getaway car could support a federal firearm conviction.
According to the court’s published opinion, Pate entered the bank while Bambi Lynn Cosner waited in her car. A teller told investigators that Pate asked whether she wanted to see his gun. Although she declined, she feared she would be harmed if she did not follow his instructions.
Pate returned to the vehicle with the money, and Cosner drove away. Pate was driving when the two were later apprehended by police.
Investigators found a loaded shotgun beneath a blanket in the back seat, along with additional ammunition. Pate maintained that he had requested the weapon for protection during the return trip and denied carrying it into the bank.
A federal grand jury indicted Pate and Cosner on April 18, 1990. Pate later pleaded guilty to bank robbery and conditionally pleaded guilty to a firearm charge.
He received 60 months for bank robbery and a consecutive 60-month sentence for the firearm conviction.
Pate appealed, arguing the firearm charge should be dismissed because he had not carried the shotgun into the bank. On May 6, 1991, the Eighth Circuit upheld the conviction, ruling that the weapon’s presence and availability in the getaway car could support the firearm charge.
