Gant v. State

814 S.W.2d 444, 1991 Tex. App. LEXIS 1868, 1991 WL 134828
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 24, 1991
Docket3-89-150-CR to 3-89-153-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 814 S.W.2d 444 (Gant v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gant v. State, 814 S.W.2d 444, 1991 Tex. App. LEXIS 1868, 1991 WL 134828 (Tex. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

In a consolidated trial on four separate indictments, a jury found appellant guilty of violating The Securities Act. 1 The jury assessed a fine of $3,666.66 in cause number 88,664. In each of the three remaining causes, the jury assessed punishment at two years imprisonment and a fine of $5000.00. The prison sentences are to run concurrently. Appellant appeals with six points of error. We will affirm the judgments of the trial court.

I. BACKGROUND

In April 1985, appellant, president of Four Way Energy, Inc. (FWE), offered to sell to Gary Milhollon a working interest in a one-acre oil and gas lease known as Leno-ree No. 1. Milhollon was furnished a “confidential memorandum” (hereinafter memorandum) which outlined the nature and details of the offering. The memorandum is dated April 15, 1985, and recites that a total of 75 points of the working interest in the well are offered for subscription at a price of $1333.33 per point, or an aggregate price of $100,000.00, which represents the anticipated drilling, testing, and completion costs of the well. A subscription of one point constitutes a 1% working interest (and a .75% net revenue interest). FWE is to be “carried” for the remaining 25% of the working-interest expense through the completion point of the well. 2 The memorandum also recites that the subscription period for this program expires July 15, 1985. All subscription funds received will be deposited with the Corpus Christi National Bank of Corpus Christi, Texas (hereinafter Corpus Christi Bank) until the escrow is closed. After the offering is terminated, the “subscription escrow account” will be closed and the funds transferred to a segregated drilling account at the bank. If the offering does not close, so that the venture is not formed by July 15, 1985, all funds are to be refunded to subscribers without assessments or deductions.

On April 26, 1985, Milhollon and appellant signed a subscription agreement and Milhollon tendered a check for the purchase of a 2% working interest in Lenoree No. 1. At the time Milhollon tendered his check, appellant had three accounts with the Corpus Christi Bank. The first was a *447 drilling account in the name of Pour Way Energy, Inc. (hereinafter drilling account), which was a commercial checking account on which appellant was the only signatory. A second account, styled Four Way Energy, Inc., escrow account, was in reality a money-market commercial checking account on which appellant was the sole signatory. The third account was an operating account in the name of Four Way Energy, Inc. No escrow agreement existed between the Corpus Christi Bank and FWE for any of these accounts. In addition to the commercial accounts held at Corpus Christi Bank, appellant and his wife had a personal checking account (hereinafter the personal account) at Island State Bank in Port Aransas (hereinafter Island Bank). On April 26, 1985, appellant deposited the Milhollon check into the drilling account which, prior to the deposit, had a deficit balance of $5,597.45.

Between April 22, 1985, and May 24, 1985, appellant sold a total of twenty subscription points to individual investors, the last three investors being James Biggers, John R. Butler, and Tom Butler, each of whom: (1) received a memorandum identical to the one furnished Milhollon; and (2) on May 24, 1985, purchased a 3% working interest in Lenoree No. I. 3

Chilo Rivera, an employee with the State Securities Board testified that he had investigated FWE’s Corpus Christi Bank accounts for the period between April 11, 1985, and July 15, 1985. During this period, a total of $33,631.59 was deposited into the FWE drilling account and a total of $33,681.41 was disbursed leaving a balance of $36.08. Of the deposits, Rivera was able to identify $26,465.86 as Lenoree No. 1 investors’ funds. Rivera testified that he identified only $2100.00 of the funds disbursed from the drilling account between April 11 and July 15, 1985, as being applied to costs associated with Lenoree No. 1. He identified numerous disbursements as being unrelated to Lenoree No. 1, including: (1) $7430.27 in disbursements to appellant’s personal account at Island Bank which, with the exception of $63.97, was used for personal expenses; (2) $1000.00 to the Port Aransas family center; (3) $5821.64 debited to pay notes unrelated to Lenoree No. 1; (4) $1726.79 disbursed to Bailey Cadillac; and (5) $3533.44 disbursed to American Express.

There were no funds from investors in Lenoree No. 1 deposited in an escrow account during this time period. A drilling permit for Lenoree No. 1 was never obtained from the Railroad Commission, drilling on the lease was never commenced, and the complainant investors never received a refund of the monies they invested in the Lenoree No. 1 venture.

II. DISCUSSION AND AUTHORITIES

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence

In his third point of error, appellant argues that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict of conviction because there is no evidence that the conduct appellant is charged with constitutes fraud under The Securities Act.

The critical inquiry on review of the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction is whether the record evidence could reasonably support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This Court does not ask whether it believes that the evidence at trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-19, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2788-89, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); Griffin v. State, 614 S.W.2d 155, 159 (Tex.Cr.App.1981). Questions regarding the sufficiency of the evidence must be resolved in light of the charge which is given. Polk v. State, 749 S.W.2d 813, 815 (Tex.Cr.App.1988).

*448 The relevant portion of the charge instructs:

[I]f you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, JACK A. GANT, JR., on or about the 24th day of May, 1985, as alleged in indictment No. [_], in the County of Travis and State of Texas did then and there unlawfully, intentionally, knowingly and fraudulently sell and offer for sale to [INVESTOR’S NAME] a security, to wit:
A % of the working interest in the one-acre oil and gas lease known the [sic] Lenoree No. 1 located in Caldwell County, Texas, ' involving an amount of less than $10,000, and the said JACK A. GANT, JR., did then and there commit fraud upon the said [INVESTOR’S NAME] by fraudulently and intentionally failing to disclose that:
Funds paid by previous investors in the Four Way Energy, Inc. Lenoree No. 1 Drilling Program for the purposes of drilling, testing and completing the Le-noree No. 1 oil and gas well had been used by Jack A. Gant, Jr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

James Warr v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Kristi Collins v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Gregory Alan Gauer v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017
Ex Parte James Richard "Rick" Perry
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Celis, Mauricio Rodriguez
416 S.W.3d 419 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Gabriel Thomas v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007
Sandra Jean Turner v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007
Murchison v. State
93 S.W.3d 239 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Murchison, Richard v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002
Pamela Board v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 1998
Banc One Capital Partners Corp. v. Kneipper
67 F.3d 1187 (Fifth Circuit, 1995)
Thomas Buster v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
814 S.W.2d 444, 1991 Tex. App. LEXIS 1868, 1991 WL 134828, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gant-v-state-texapp-1991.