Carter v. State

386 So. 2d 1102
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 13, 1980
Docket51991
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 386 So. 2d 1102 (Carter v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carter v. State, 386 So. 2d 1102 (Mich. 1980).

Opinion

386 So.2d 1102 (1980)

Charles A. CARTER
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 51991.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

August 13, 1980.

*1103 John R. Poole, William Goodman, Jackson, for appellant.

Bill Allain, Atty. Gen., by Susan L. Runnels, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before ROBERTSON, P.J., and WALKER and BOWLING, JJ.

BOWLING, Justice, for the Court:

Appellant, Charles A. Carter, appeals from his conviction of false pretense in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County. The indictment was issued on July 7, 1978, charging appellant with the false pretense that allegedly occurred in June, 1972. The indictment was prepared and rendered under Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-19-39 (1972), which reads as follows:

Every person who, with intent to cheat or defraud another, shall designedly, by color of any false token or writing, or by another false pretense, obtain the signature of any person to any written instrument, or obtain from any person any money, personal property, or valuable thing, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding three years, or in the county jail not exceeding one year, and by fine not exceeding three times the value of the money, property, or thing obtained.

Appellant assigns several alleged errors resulting in his conviction. We need only to consider whether or not the evidence presented by the State was sufficient to come within the provisions of the above statute. We find that the State clearly and without any doubt failed to present a case under the charge in the indictment, and it follows that the cause should be reversed and appellant discharged.

At the outset, and as hereinafter discussed, we point out that in the entire transaction in question Bankers Trust Savings & Loan Association lost nothing, but conversely, it gained. The appellant gained nothing.

At all times during the period in question appellant was chairman of the board of Bankers Trust Company, the parent corporation of Bankers Trust Savings & Loan Association, of Jackson, Mississippi. He was an attorney and a certified public accountant. In addition to being the head of a law firm, he had other business interests. The entire matter began when appellant entered into a business transaction with one D.C. Taylor of Greenville, Texas. This relationship started in the first part of 1971. Taylor owned a motel in Greenville and other Texas property. The motel was in serious financial difficulty. Appellant, having previously known Taylor, and at Taylor's request, agreed to personally assist Taylor in his financial trouble in Texas. Neither Bankers Trust nor the Savings & Loan Association had any involvement whatever in that transaction. In fact, neither company was qualified legally to do any business in the State of Texas. Appellant loaned Taylor a considerable amount of his admittedly personal funds. The motel was saved because of appellant's assistance to his acquaintance, Taylor. In addition to financial assistance, appellant assisted in accounting and operating procedures involving the motel. Good business practice dictated that appellant secure his personal investment in the Texas property. Therefore, he requested and received security instruments to protect his loan to Taylor. It so happened that at the time Taylor owned some mostly undeveloped property near Columbus, Mississippi, known as Eastwood Hills Subdivision. In securing his personal involvement with Taylor and the saving of *1104 his property in Texas, the security agreements included a second deed of trust on the Eastwood Hills Subdivision property. It is clear from the record that this was only incidental to the main business transactions in Texas. The second deed of trust on the Mississippi property was not recorded and appellant at no time has attempted to gain by that instrument.

In June, 1972, Taylor applied for a loan on the Eastwood Hills Subdivision property. Undisputedly, the sole purpose for the loan was to complete the paving of the subdivision streets. Taylor had a prior loan with Bankers Trust Savings & Loan Association for development of the subdivision, and in June, 1972, he owed the Savings & Loan Association a balance on that loan of $67,082.60.

The procedures taken by the Savings & Loan Association in June, 1972, prior to increasing the loan for the purpose stated, were ample to determine if the loan was a good investment for the Association. Several representatives of the Savings & Loan Association and an independent realtor examined the property and reported to the Association's Loan Committee composed of four officers. The Committee did not include appellant. The regulations of the Association required that at least three members of the loan committee approve all loans. Undisputedly, the Savings & Loan Association was interested in making loans for developing subdivisions. In addition to the benefits of the loan itself, the Association expected to finance the construction of future homes and receive benefits from assignments of mortgages thereon.

The loan committee determined that Taylor's application constituted a good loan for the Association. It then entered into an agreement with Taylor, the agreement being handled by officers of the Association other than appellant, to increase the Taylor loan to $105,000. Taylor's application was accepted by the loan committee. The necessary papers were prepared and forwarded to a reputable attorney in Columbus for the loan closing. On the Association's instructions the papers were prepared and the loan funds were distributed as follows: $67,082.60 to the Savings & Loan Association to pay the balance of the existing loan on the property; $2,100 to the Savings & Loan Association as its processing or discount fee; $50 for preparation of the loan papers; the balance of $35,767.40 was delivered to the Savings & Loan Association and placed in an escrow account to pay the cost of the street paving. Addition reveals that the above distributed loan funds constituted the exact amount of the loan and that Taylor received nothing.

We should stop here and state that the loan in question was paid in full, together with complete interest and to the entire satisfaction and full recovery of the Savings & Loan Association. This was done approximately four years before the present indictment was returned against appellant.

The sole argument of the State in attempting to justify this prosecution was that the incidental second deed of trust was placed on the property in connection with the extensive financial dealings in Texas between appellant and Taylor. As hereinbefore stated, at no time did appellant make any attempt to benefit from this second deed of trust. In fact, it was at his suggestion that after the loan in question was made the Savings & Loan Association entered into a joint venture with Taylor whereby the representatives of the Savings & Loan Association and Taylor would jointly place the lots in the subdivision on the market, would handle the sales jointly, and each would receive one-half of the profits from such lot sales. This completely nullified any possible benefit appellant could have had under his incidental and unrecorded second deed of trust. No attempt whatever was made by appellant to benefit therefrom.

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Bluebook (online)
386 So. 2d 1102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carter-v-state-miss-1980.