United States v. Soler, No. 12-2077-CR (2d. Cir. July 22, 2014) (Katzmann, Walker, and Droney), available
here
The federal carjacking statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2119, criminalizes the forcible taking of an automobile “from the person or presence of another.” Following decisions by all the other Courts of Appeals to have addressed the question, the Circuit here held that an automobile is in the “presence” of a victim “if it is so within his or her reach, inspection, observation, or control that he or she could, if not overcome by violence or prevented by fear, retain possession of it.”
Defendants robbed a house and, on the way out, demanded that one of the occupants give them the keys to a car parked in front of the house. The car was parked on a curb 10-15 feet, or a 5-second walk, from the front door to the house. The victim testified
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