Also known as: holdups · hold-up · robbery · delay
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A robbery in which the perpetrator uses force or intimidation to take personal property from the victim's person or immediate presence with intent to permanently deprive the victim.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Harold Hunt confronts Helena Hoffman on a sidewalk at night and presses a knife against her side while ordering her to surrender her handbag. Hoffman hands over the bag containing cash and credit cards. The encounter meets the requirements for a holdup because the property was taken from the victim's immediate presence by force sufficient to overcome resistance.
After a holdup at his store, Hector Huerta identifies the masked gunman who took the cash register contents at gunpoint. Huerta later sues the perpetrator for the value of the stolen money and his medical bills from the confrontation. The facts establish a holdup because the taking occurred from the victim's immediate presence by threat of deadly force with intent to permanently deprive.
Hazel Hoffman enters a convenience store, grabs merchandise, and tells the clerk she has a gun while ordering him to stay back. The clerk complies out of fear of immediate serious injury. The act constitutes a holdup under the statute because the theft was accompanied by a threat of serious bodily injury during commission.
Hiroshi Hasegawa represents a client accused of a holdup and subpoenas an uninvolved bystander who saw nothing. The bystander is forced to miss work for multiple unnecessary appearances. The conduct involves a holdup prosecution but the lawyer's actions target the third party solely to create burden unrelated to any legitimate defense need.
A defendant is acquitted of a holdup because the jury found the identification evidence insufficient. The state later attempts to prosecute him for a holdup against a second victim committed minutes later at the same location. The facts bar the second prosecution because the identity determination in the first holdup acquittal controls the later case.
After a holdup leaves a business unable to meet loan payments, the owner defaults on an existing contract. The state then enacts a statute retroactively extending all private debt repayment deadlines by six months. The holdup itself is the precipitating event, but the new law still impairs the obligation of the pre-existing contract.
A holdup requires that the taking be accomplished by force or intimidation from the victim's person or immediate presence, whereas larceny can occur without any confrontation or threat.
Supporting sources
Yes. The force must be sufficient to overcome the victim's resistance or the threat must create an immediate risk of death or serious injury.
Supporting sources
Such evidence may be admitted when offered for a purpose other than proving liability, such as showing bias or an effort to obstruct a criminal prosecution.
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