Dimmick v. United States

121 F. 638, 57 C.C.A. 664, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 4646
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 24, 1903
DocketNo. 887
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 121 F. 638 (Dimmick v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dimmick v. United States, 121 F. 638, 57 C.C.A. 664, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 4646 (9th Cir. 1903).

Opinion

GILBERT, Circuit Judge,

after stating the case as above, delivered th"* opinion of the court.

It is contended that the indictment does not charge the accused with failure to deposit the money, but merely charges him with failing to deposit it on a specified date, and it is argued that, if the money were deposited on the day before or the day following the specified date, there would be no violation of the law. To answer this it is only necessary to refer to the terms of the statute and the language of the indictment. In the nineteenth count the indictment charges that the money was received by the plaintiff in error on December ii, 1900, and that he still had it in his hands and possession on December 31, 1900, that day being the last day of the quarter; in other words, the indictment charges that the money was not deposited before the 31st, and it then proceeds to allege that the plaintiff in error willfully, knowingly, and feloniously failed to deposit the same on that day. The statute requires, in plain terms, that the person referred to therein who has money of the United States in his possession shall deposit the same when required so to do by the Secretary of the Treasury or the head of any other proper department, and that, if he fail so to do, he shall incur the prescribed penalty. The indictment follows the statute, and charges the commission of the crime which is therein defined.

It is contended that the nineteenth and twentieth counts of the indictment are insufficient, for the reason that the money therein referred to is not described. The rule is that an indictment against a public officer or employé, even for embezzlement of public funds which came into his possession as such officer or employé, need not state what kind of money was embezzled, whether coin, and, if so, whether gold or silver, or bills, or of what denominations, and how many of each. The reason of the rule is too plain to require discussion. No one but the person in the possession of such moneys knows or can know what kind of money it is. United States v. Bornemann (C. C.) 36 Fed. 257, and cases there cited. It is contended that the decision in Moore v. United States, 160 U. S. 268, 16 Sup. Ct. 294, 40 L. Ed. 422, sustains a contrary doctrine, but we do not so understand the ruling in that case. That was a case in which a clerk of the post office was charged with embezzling moneys of the United States. It was objected to the indictment that it contained no direct allegation that the defendant was a clerk in the post office, that it did not describe the money, and that it did not charge that the money came into the possession of the defendant by virtue of his employment. The Supreme Court for those reasons held the indictment insufficient, and said that there was no reason why one who was not such an employé, and who embezzled funds of the government could not properly be charged with the kind and description of money so embezzled. But the court proceeded to say that if the indictment had charged that the defendant was a clerk in the post office, and that he had embezzled the sum stated, and that such sum came into his possession in that capacity, the indictment would have been held sufficient, notwithstanding the general description of the property embezzled as consisting of so many dollars and cents. The indictment in the case under consideration alleges -that [642]*642the plaintiff in error was a clerk in the United States mint, and that as such clerk he had in his possession the money for the failure to deposit which he was indicted.

It is contended that the verdict operates as an acquittal, for the reason that the plaintiff in error was found not guilty under the fifth and sixth counts of the indictment, which charge him with the crime of embezzlement with reference to the same moneys which are referred to in the nineteenth and twentieth counts. But the fifth and sixth counts are not the same as the nineteenth and twentieth, nor is the offense therein described the same as those for which the plaintiff in error was found guilty. The charge under the nineteenth and twentieth counts is for the failure to deposit when directed to deposit. It is true that by the language of section 5492, Rev. St. [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3705], it is declared that one who fails to comply with the requirement which directs him to deposit moneys of the United States shall be deemed guilty of embezzlement, but the offense consists, not in the imputed embezzlement of the money, but in the failure to comply with the direction to deposit. The offense may be complete without any actual embezzlement of money. It is committed when it is shown that there is a willful and felonious failure to comply with the specified requirements of the Secretary of the Treasury or the head of the proper department.

The point is made that the court erred in denying the challenges of the plaintiff in error to the jurors M. J. White, B. F. Wellington, and D. B. Crane. All of these jurors, when examined upon their voir dire, testified that they had formed impressions concerning the case, and Wellington stated that he had an opinion, but that it was based entirely upon newspaper accounts. They all testified, however, that they had no such impression or opinion as would prevent them from trying the case solely upon the evidence, and stated that they would be governed entirely by the evidence produced at the trial. There was clearly no error, therefore, in the ruling of the trial court upon the challenges. Williams v. United States, 35 C. C. A. 369, 93 Fed. 398.

It is contended that the court erred in overruling the objection of the plaintiff in error to the admission in evidence of section 4 of the regulations of the Treasury Department, which is above referred to in the statement of the case. The statute under which the indictment was brought contemplates that requirements, or, in other words, rules and regulations, may be made by the Secretary of the Treasury, or by the head of any other proper department, or by the governing officers of the Treasury. In Wilkins v. United States, 37 C. C. A. 588, 96 Fed. 837, the same point which is here made was made before the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The court said: “The making of such regulations being, then, an executive act, we next inquire whether, when made, they have the force of law, and whether the courts take judicial notice of their existence. That such is the case the authorities show.” There is no support for the contention of the plaintiff in error in the case of United States v. Eaton, 144 U. S. 677, 12 Sup. Ct. 764, 36 L. Ed. 591. In that case Eaton was indicted for al-> leged violation of certain regulations made by the commissioner of internal revenue to enforce the act of Congress of August 2, 1886 (24 [643]*643Stat. 209, c. 840 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 2228]). All that was decided was that there was no statutory authority for the particular regulation for the violation of which the defendant was indicted. So, in Morrill v. Jones, 106 U. S. 466, 1 Sup. Ct. 423, 27 L. Ed. 267, it was held that the Secretary of the Treasury cannot alter or amend a revenue law so that a violation of such alteration or the amendment thereof may become a criminal offense. But in In re Kollock, 165 U. S. 526, 17 Sup. Ct. 444, 41 L. Ed.

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Bluebook (online)
121 F. 638, 57 C.C.A. 664, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 4646, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dimmick-v-united-states-ca9-1903.