Commonwealth v. Kauffman

22 Pa. D. & C.2d 421, 1960 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 74
CourtPhiladelphia County Court of Oyer and Terminer
DecidedSeptember 9, 1960
Docketnos. 6-10
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 22 Pa. D. & C.2d 421 (Commonwealth v. Kauffman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Philadelphia County Court of Oyer and Terminer primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Kauffman, 22 Pa. D. & C.2d 421, 1960 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 74 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1960).

Opinion

Ullman, J.,

This matter was previously before the Superior Court as of 190 Pa. Superior Ct. 444, and no useful purpose would be served by here repeating what was there clearly and lucidly said. Defendant, Joseph Kauffman, had been tried in the Municipal Court of Philadelphia before a judge sitting without a jury and convicted upon the same five bills of indictment, each charging him with [423]*423embezzlement. After considering the various contentions raised by appellant, the court, speaking through President Judge Rhodes, said at page 454:

“Unfortunately the trial court appears to have oversimplified the issue; consequently, it did not direct its inquiry to a full determination of the nature and extent of the relationship between the company and defendant or of his authority respecting funds of the company as that authority may have been established explicitly, tacitly, or by a course of conduct. In the course of the trial the court declared its interest in only one issue, — ‘a simple issue; and that issue is whether the customers had paid money over to Mr. Kauffman that he has not turned in to this company.’ While some latitude was allowed defendant in presenting his case, the court obviously was of the impression that these efforts were but ‘labored attempts ... to becloud the issue.’ In the interest of justice, the case must be retried so that the facts may be fully presented and the issues fairly determined.”

The case again came on for trial in quarter sessions court and was tried before a jury on December 15-17, 1959, the jury bringing in a verdict of guilty on all bills. A motion for new trial was made, and after a considerable lapse of time, Irving Shull, Esq., who had originally tried the ease and argued the appeal before the Superior Court and again tried it in the instant case, withdrew and was replaced by defendant’s present counsel, Donald M. Bowman, Esq., who filed a number of additional reasons in support of the motion for new trial and a motion in arrest of judgment. These motions were subsequently argued before the trial judge who, after careful consideration of the oral arguments and the briefs, and after requesting supplemental briefs on one point, dismissed both motions and sentenced defendant to a term of not less than two nor more than four years in Eastern State Penitentiary. [424]*424From this sentence defendant has filed the instant appeal.

At the time of the new trial the testimony of the witnesses, the speeches of counsel and the charge of the trial judge were primarily directed at resolving the issues to explore which the Superior Court had directed a new trial.

Albert E. Miller, who was president of M. Jennings & Sons, Kauffman’s employer, was the principal witness for the Commonwealth. He testified at great length, and in accordance with the Superior Court’s injunction, defendant’s counsel was given great latitude in cross-examination. His evidence was substantially the same, though more detailed than that given at the first trial and offered into evidence 11 exhibits, including all the original records of the company dealing with Kauffman’s withdrawals and expenses. The Commonwealth also called a new witness, Mary Antoninich, who testified through the chief official court interpreter, Thomas A. Del Vecchio, and whose testimony, if credited by the jury, may well have had a devastating effect upon their opinion as to defendant’s credibility.

Defendant himself was his principal witness and he also testified at great length under both direct and cross-examination substantially as he had testified at the time of the first trial, but again in greater detail and offered 19 exhibits in a group and a limited offer of two additional ones, which are part of the record. The only other witness produced by defendant was Robert J. Hanlon, a fellow employe, whose testimony seemed to the trial judge more remarkable for what he did not say than for what he did testify to. Defendant’s parents, who are alive and live in Philadelphia and whose testimony might well have been pertinent [425]*425as to the bitterly disputed judgment note, were not called by either side.

It is clear from the record that Kauffman’s financial obligations to M. Jennings & Sons (hereinafter for the sake of brevity referred to as “the company”) were not confined to the original contract of employment and its supplement. The original contract of employment was executed on January 1, 1954, and apparently carefully gone over by defendant, for there are a number of changes initialed by him. Subsequently, a supplemental contract was entered into, changing certain parts and deleting other parts of the original contract. Both were offered in evidence, but no useful purpose would be served by discussing them since the provisions and the alterations are not materially relevant to any issue now before the court.

It is important, however, that, at the time the employment began, Kauffman was then engaged in another operation which he had previously begun on his own in Hammonton, N. J. Miller testified, and Kauffman never denied, that Kauffman was then working on this job but did not have the money to complete it and that Kauffman and the company therefore entered into a contract whereby the company was to supply material at cost plus 10 percent. It would seem clear that Kauffman’s indebtedness on the Hammonton job was never fully paid for in cash and that the unpaid balance of this enters into the two judgment notes given to the company and the statement of July 31, 1954, signed and initialed by Kauffman showing that, as of that date, Kauffman was indebted to the company in the sum of $1523.75. This analysis of the financial dealings between the company and defendant was sent by the company to defendant, signed by him, and returned. Defendant also prepared a statement of his own which showed him indebted in a lesser amount, but nonetheless indebted, to the company.

[426]*426Prior to that, in March of 1954, defendant, Kaufman, had given the company a judgment note in the sum of $1,016.12 on which defendant had paid on account $15 a week from March to July.

There also entered into the picture at least one cash loan to defendant by the company in the sum of $200 made on February 18, 1954. According to Miller’s testimony, there were a number of other loans, for when defendant produced a batch of checks drawn by him to the company, while cross-examining Miller, he testified that those checks were not given to the company in payment of money which Kauffman had collected from customers, but that they were checks that were cashed by Kauffman in the office, or repayment of temporary borrowings. Miller testified, and Kauffman did not deny, that defendant frequently cashed checks at the office of the company by drawing checks to the company and getting cash for them.

These transactions were, of course, entirely apart from the four customer transactions which gave rise to the bills of indictment upon which defendant was tried and which were analyzed by the Superior Court in its opinion at page 447. In cross-examining Miller as to the Barrish transaction, it developed that there was another transaction, not referred to by the Superior Court in its opinion, where, if the Commonwealth’s witnesses are to be believed, there was another embezzlement of $430 from a customer named Mary Antoninich. The testimony as to this transaction and Kauffman’s attempts to explain it may very possibly have been most damaging to Kauffman’s credibility in the eyes of the jury.

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Related

Commonwealth v. Kauffman
165 A.2d 692 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1960)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
22 Pa. D. & C.2d 421, 1960 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 74, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-kauffman-paoytermctphila-1960.