Hobbs Act Robbery Penalties and Sentencing

The sentence imposed on a federal robbery count is not read off the face of the statute. It is calculated, and the calculation is where nearly all of the movement happens. Two people convicted of the same offense under 18 U.S.C. § 1951 can face very different ranges because of what the evidence shows about how the taking was carried out, what happened to the people present, and what each defendant did.

This page sets out that calculation. The statutory maximum applicable to a count under 18 U.S.C. § 1951 should be confirmed against the current text of the statute with counsel. If you are facing sentencing on a Hobbs Act count, call Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. at (888) 437-7747 to request a consultation.

On this page

The Sequence

A presentence report is prepared. The advisory guideline range is calculated from an offense level and a criminal history category. The parties object, the court resolves the disputes at a hearing, and the range becomes the starting point. The judge then weighs the statutory sentencing factors and imposes a sentence, which may fall inside the range, above it, or below it.

The disputes that matter in a robbery case are almost always factual: what was said, what was displayed, who was moved, and who was hurt. Those facts are found by the judge on the sentencing record, which is why the sentencing hearing is prepared as an evidentiary proceeding rather than as an argument.

The Robbery Guideline

Sentencing on a Hobbs Act count runs through the robbery guideline. It sets a base offense level and then adds increases for specific offense characteristics, each tied to something that happened during the offense.

Firearms and other weapons produce a graded increase depending on what occurred: whether a weapon was possessed, brandished or otherwise used, or discharged. Injury produces a further increase, graded by its seriousness. Physical restraint of any person to facilitate the offense or to escape adds a level, and abduction adds more. The amount taken adds levels according to a table. Taking a firearm, or targeting a financial institution or certain other premises, has its own provisions.

Each of those characteristics is a factual question with a defined trigger. Whether a weapon was brandished rather than merely possessed, whether a person was restrained within the meaning of the guideline rather than simply frightened, and whether an injury meets the definition used are all contested on the evidence, and the difference between adjacent findings is often larger than anything else available at sentencing.

Multiple Counts and Grouping

Robbery counts do not group with one another, because each involves a separate victim and a distinct harm. A defendant charged with a series of takings therefore faces a combined level built from each count rather than from the most serious one alone, and the number of units drives the increase.

This makes attribution central. Where a series of events is charged as the work of one group, whether the evidence links a particular client to every event, or only to some, changes the calculation substantially. It is the same question that matters at trial, and it deserves the same attention at sentencing even after a plea.

Adjustments, Criminal History, and Career Offender Rules

Role in the offense adjusts the level in both directions: upward for organizers, leaders, managers and supervisors of criminal activity involving other participants, downward for a participant substantially less culpable than the average. Obstruction of justice applies where a defendant threatened a witness, destroyed evidence, or testified falsely. Acceptance of responsibility reduces the level where it is clearly demonstrated, with a further reduction available in qualifying cases on a government motion.

Criminal history is scored from prior sentences under rules about their age and length. Where the career offender provisions apply, they can displace the ordinary calculation entirely. Whether a particular prior conviction qualifies as a predicate under those provisions is a legal question that is litigated rather than assumed, and the answer has changed over time as the definitions have been construed. Prior records are also frequently inaccurate, and checking the underlying court files is ordinary work.

The Separate Firearms Count, Restitution, and Supervision

Where a firearms count arising from the same event is charged under a different statute, it carries its own sentencing consequences, set by the text of that statute rather than by 18 U.S.C. § 1951. Its terms should be confirmed against the current statutory text with counsel. When such a count is present, the guideline treatment of weapon characteristics on the robbery count changes, and the interaction has to be worked through rather than assumed.

Restitution may be ordered for identifiable loss to identifiable victims, including property not recovered and, where applicable, medical costs. A term of supervision ordinarily follows imprisonment, with conditions set by the court, and violations are handled in a separate proceeding.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does this page not state the maximum sentence?

Because the firm publishes statutory figures only where they have been verified against a source maintained for that purpose, and the maximum for 18 U.S.C. § 1951 has not been verified for publication here. A figure copied from a general article is not a safe basis for any decision. The current statutory text carries the answer and your lawyer can confirm it. What this page provides instead is the calculation that determines most federal sentences.

Does it matter whether the gun was real or loaded?

It can matter a great deal, and it is a question of proof rather than of assumption. The guideline increases turn on what the evidence shows about the weapon and about what was done with it, and the definitions used are specific. Where the item was not recovered, where the description came only from a frightened witness, or where the recording shows something different from the report, the applicable increase is contested.

What does physical restraint mean in the guideline?

It refers to restraint of a person to facilitate the offense or an escape, and it has a defined meaning that does not extend to every direction given during a robbery. Whether ordering people to move within a store, or to remain in place, meets that definition is litigated on the facts. It is one of the adjustments most frequently applied without adequate support and most frequently worth contesting.

I was charged with several robberies. How does that affect the range?

Robbery counts do not group together, because each involves a separate victim. The combined level rises with the number of counts, so the attribution of each event to a particular defendant matters as much at sentencing as at trial. Where the link between a client and a given event is weak, that weakness should be pressed at the sentencing hearing rather than treated as settled by a plea to other counts.

Can conduct I was not convicted of raise my sentence?

In the guideline calculation, within limits, yes. Relevant conduct includes acts that were part of the same course of conduct or common scheme, and acts of co-participants within the scope of what was jointly undertaken, in furtherance of it, and reasonably foreseeable. The court makes those findings on a lower standard than applies to conviction, and the defense response is to hold the government to each requirement as to this defendant.

Is the judge required to follow the guideline range?

No. The range is advisory and is the starting point. After calculating it the judge weighs the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history and characteristics of the defendant, deterrence, protection of the public, the avoidance of unwarranted disparities, and restitution. Sentences below the range are imposed both on a government motion for substantial assistance and on the judge’s own weighing of those factors.

Working With Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C.

Sentencing on a Hobbs Act count is decided in the specific offense characteristics: what the evidence shows about the weapon, the injuries, the restraint, and the attribution of each event to this client.

Mr. Sris, Owner and Founder of Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., is a former prosecutor and is admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York. The firm has been practicing since 1997. Mr. Sris and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys handle criminal defense matters across those jurisdictions, which matters in federal practice because a single investigation frequently reaches conduct, witnesses, and records in more than one state. Mr. Sris brings a background in accounting and information systems from George Mason University, applied to complex financial and technology-related cases.

The firm serves Northern Virginia from 1655 Fort Myer Dr, Suite 700, Room 719, Arlington, VA 22209 and central Virginia from 7400 Beaufont Springs Drive, Suite 300, Room 395, Richmond, VA 23225. By appointment. Call (888) 437-7747 to schedule. Request a consultation. Reach our location at (888) 437-7747.

This page provides general information about sentencing on federal Hobbs Act robbery counts under 18 U.S.C. § 1951 and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case. Results may vary.

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