Duncan v. United States

68 F.2d 136, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4905
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedDecember 13, 1933
Docket7162
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 68 F.2d 136 (Duncan 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
Duncan v. United States, 68 F.2d 136, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4905 (9th Cir. 1933).

Opinion

WILBUR Circuit Judge

The appellant was convicted on each of ,, I e . . . n i -, three counts of an indictment, all based on ... . n x it j. i . representations by the appellant that he is .,. jul TT 'uofi -u • n a citizen ox the united otates, bom in Cam--i -vT t i »i . n i .i j. i den, Jn. J.; whereas, it is alleged that he was , • iL Tr- i o t» • born m the .Kingdom oi Rumania.

The first eount charges that the defendant made false statements in an application for a passport, with the intent to secure the issu-anee of a passport for his use, contrary to the law regulating the issuance of passports (22 USCA § 220) and the regulations of the State Department in reference thereto-, by falsely stating that he was a native citizen of the United States and that he was bom in Camden, N. J, on April 23, 1904, when in truth and in fact he was not a citizen of the United States, but a subject of the Kingdom of Rumania, and was not born in Camden, N. J., but was bom in Rumania on the 20th day of April, 19-04.

The second eount of the indictment eharges a violation of 18 USCA § 141, in that the , „ , „ „ , j , defendant unlawfully, willingly, and knowfcr frau(¿’lent ¿ pose of secnro£ ^ ^ falsely & f i . ... » represented himself to be a citizen, of the United States without having been duly admitted to citizenship; that he represented himself to be a citizen of the United States born in Camden, N. J, when as a matter of fact he was not born in Camden, N. J., but was bom in the Kingdom of Rumania and was never duly admitted to citizenship,

The third eount of the indictment charges the defendant with perjury in violation of 18 USCA § 231 in connection with his apPlicati™ a PassP«^. “ thf*° “ tbat be Y T f Sta, es ^ Camden, K. J. when as a matter at fact he was not a citizen oi the United States and was not born in Camden, jf. an¿ was not bom in the United States, jn testifying before the immigration officers January 15, 19*31, the appellant gave his name as Basil Duncan Couyanos Ronaldo and stated he had used the names Renault Duncan, Basil Couyanos, and Dimean Renaldo ((bis^f na“e) 5 be/as born APril f 1904’ f^°Quld be ***** °£ a£e on 23,1931; that he entered the United States in September, 1921, on the ship p^get Sound; that he shipped as a seaman thereon out of Dunkerque, Prance, as a Greek citizen under the name of Basil D. Couyanos. He stated that he was admitted to the United States at that time as an alien seaman at Baltimore, Md.; that during the World War ke had lived in Rumania, at Galatz, in the province of Covurlui; that he obtained a ^ . -r> . ... , , , passport as a Rumanian citizen when he went £ ^ , ,. . from Rumania to Prance; that he was living . ^ ... , , 5 m Rumania with some people by the name ox ~ tt t j. ../» -, , 0 ,, Couyanos. lie also testified before the Bu- « t a* a- * . , * xeau of Investigation of the Department of T on Labor, as follows:

„„ _ . . Q- 1 tese people whom you say you were bving with m Rumania you say they were yoIlr faLber 811(1 mother? A- Ycs’
<(Q- What were their names? A. Father, Demetri Couyanos, and mother Tedora Couyan°s, but sometimes instead of calling them mother and father I would call them by name, I have lived with them as far as I can reeollect.
“Q. Do you recollect living with anj rth- *138 ers? A. I have a tremendous amount of reí-atives there but I have always lived with my father and mother in one place.
“Q. Who are your relatives there? A. I have no direct relatives there.
“Q. Do you have any brothers or sisters? A. No, I haven’t any direct brothers or sisters. There were four or five in the Couyanos family and I used to call them brothers and sisters although I am not related to them, » » *
, ,, „ „ “Q. What are the names of some of the children of this Couyanos family m Ru-mama? A. One is Aggripina, another is Ionel and another is Efeochia; that is all. They have another girl named Sofia.
“Q- What is your mother’s maiden name in Rumania? A. His wife is Teodora Cou-yanos. I do not know her maiden name, That is all I know. •
“Q. * * * Have you ever lived in Camden, New Jersey? A. No, I have not.”

It appears that as long as appellant remembered he had lived in Rumania in the home of Demetri and Teodora Couyanos, whom he had called father and mother. He had no recollection of any other father and mother, but states that his earliest reeolleetion was crossing a large body of water and that the people he called father and mother with whom he lived had told him he was bom in Camden, N. J.; that they stated to him the name of his parents but that he had never seen either of them. Appellant took the witness stand in his own behalf and repeated most of the statements he had made before the immigration authorities above stated.

The records of the ship Puget Sound on which he shipped as a coal passer in 1917 were introduced in evidence and showed that Basil Couyanos was a member of the crew and his signature to the records was intro-dueed in evidence. When the Puget Sound arrived at Baltimore, Md., appellant first entered this country. He applied for admission to the United States as a citizen but withdrew his application and entered as an alien. He was allowed to enter to reship foreign, but he did not reship. He went to New York and remained there. On October 17,1924, he applied for a marriage license, giving the name Renault Demetri Duncan; place of birth, Rumania; place of father’s birth, Rumania; place of mother’s birth, Rumania; father’s name, Demetri J.; mother’s name, Theodore Marienne. On March 29,1926, he applied for life insurance giving his name as Renault ■ Duncan Couyanos; date of birth, April 23, 1904; and place of birth, Rumania. On De-eember 14,1927, he wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Immigration stating that he desired to become naturalized and giving the name of Basil D. Couyanos. On January 14, 1929> lust thr6e months before he made his aPP^tion for passport as an American citihe made a written applicatron for life in™cf ^ 23’190d' De¿®mber 18 1930, aM>eüant procured a false affidavit to be made for the purpose oi effecting an entry-in the record of vital statistics at C'am-d N> j purportÍ31g to show that he was bam there on April 33 1904. In that record thug obtained &e £athei,s lace o£ birth wag ^V0n M United stat t]le mother,s ^ Rnmania, name of father, Francis B. Dunearlj and name of mother, Marie Marienseo. Tbe witness who- made the affidavit on which the registration of birth was entered in the records of Camden, N. J., as of April 23, 1904, testified that the affidavit was made by him without knowledge of the facts at the request of the appellant, who knew the statements in the affidavit as to affiant’s aequaintanee with appellant, and of affiant’s knowledge of the facts sworn to, were untrue. In the register of births in the city of Camden, N. J., the entries were arranged alphabetieally and not chronologically. Under the head-big “DU” was the entry “Renault Duncan, April 23,1904,” giving place of birth as 217 Federal street, and showing entry by affidavit 12/18/30.

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Bluebook (online)
68 F.2d 136, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4905, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/duncan-v-united-states-ca9-1933.