What is the current state of the law on the use of third party force by a defendant in a robbery?

Cases involving such third-party force are commonly prosecuted. One regularly recurring scenario involves security guards. Pereida-Alba v. Coursey , 356 Or. 654, 342 P.3d 70 (2015), for example, involved a defendant who entered a grocery store, filled a backpack with food, and left the store without paying. Id. at 71. When confronted by a security guard, the defendant pulled a gun from the backpack and pointed it at the guard. Id. at 72. The defendant was eventually arrested and charged with first-degree robbery in violation of section 164.415, which incorporates the definition of third-degree robbery under section 164.395. Id. The indictment accordingly alleged that the defendant "did unlawfully and knowingly while in the course of committing theft ... use and threaten the immediate use of physical force upon [the security guard]." Id. at 72 (alteration in original).

[921 F.3d 909]