Downtown Tupelo bank robber appeals 20-year sentence
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Apr. 6—OXFORD — A man who pleaded guilty to robbing a downtown Tupelo bank last spring is asking a federal appeals court to throw out his 20-year sentence, saying it is unreasonable.
Jasper Michael Wagner, 57, is not contesting his conviction for robbing the Community Bank in downtown Tupelo in April 2022. Instead, he has a problem with U.S. District Court Judge Sharion Aycock rejecting the prosecutor's recommendation and imposing the maximum sentence.
In his appeal to the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Wagner argues that Aycock abused her discretion by imposing the maximum sentence and erred by considering his previous criminal history while imposing the sentence.
The government sentencing guideline recommended between 12 and 15 years. The judge instead sentenced him to 20 years. Wagner did not object during the sentencing hearing, but he filed notice two days later that he planned to appeal.
In the appeal, Wagner argues the court failed to consider more than half of the points required to deviate from the government's sentencing guidelines.
"The court failed to adequately articulate its analysis of the factors as justification for imposing the maximum statutory penalty," wrote Wagner's attorney Kelsey Dismukes.
The appeal further argues that the court "entirely omitted mitigating circumstances from its analysis." Wagner feels that Aycock should have taken into consideration the lack of violence during the Tupelo robbery, the fact he did not use a weapon as well as his significant struggles with anxiety.
During sentencing, Judge Aycock referred to Wagner's long history of robbing banks (he has been convicted of robbing 11 banks over the past two decades) and said he had traumatized the tellers. According the appeal, there is nothing in the court record of the Tupelo robbery to support a finding that Wagner caused trauma to anyone.
"In fact, (the Tupelo) bank teller initially believed Wagner was joking because of his non-threatening demeanor," the appeal says.
Wagner has asked to be able to argue the appeal orally before the court.
In the government response, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Roberts said Wagner was informed at both the plea hearing and at the sentencing hearing that the maximum penalty was 20 years. He added that the judge spoke at length on why she was deviating from the recommendation.
"The District Court addressed Wagner's history of bank robberies, the seriousness of the offense, the need to deter future criminal conduct, the necessity of protecting the public from future crimes and the restitution owed from the robbery," Roberts wrote.
The Court of Appeals has not said when or if it will hear the appeal.
Since 2002, Wagner has pleaded guilty in federal court to 11 bank robberies in seven states, from New Mexico to the Carolinas, including three in Mississippi. Wagner's life of crime has followed a distinct pattern: He robs several banks, gets caught, serves about 10 years in prison, gets out and starts robbing banks again.
Wagner has only been out of prison about 15 months since June 2002. During that free time, he has robbed at least four banks.
He had been out of a federal prison about four months when he walked into the Community Bank on West Main Street in Tupelo on April 6, 2022, around lunchtime and handed the clerk a note demanding $5,000. He walked out of the bank with around that amount in a bank bag.
When he was apprehended in a Leeds, Alabama, hotel room about four hours later, Wagner still had the bank bag and most of the money. All but around $150 of the money was recovered.
