Gardner v. United States

230 F. 575, 144 C.C.A. 629, 1916 U.S. App. LEXIS 1468
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 5, 1916
DocketNos. 4219, 4220
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 230 F. 575 (Gardner v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gardner v. United States, 230 F. 575, 144 C.C.A. 629, 1916 U.S. App. LEXIS 1468 (8th Cir. 1916).

Opinion

CARLAND, Circuit Judge.

Gardner and Coudrey were jointly indicted and convicted of 'a violation of section 5480, R. S. U. S., as amended by the act of March 2, 1889. They sued out separate writs of error to review the judgment of conviction, and the same have been [577]*577consolidated for the purpose of hearing and decision. Taking up the case of Gardner, No. 4219, we find the following alleged errors properly assigned:

(1) “The court erred in refusing to sustain the defendant’s demurrer to the evidence at the close of the whole case as to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh counts of the indictment.”
(2) “The court erred in overruling the defendant's motion in arrest of judgment.”

We pass for future disposition assignment of error No. 1, and dispose of assignment No. 2 by saying that this defendant in his motion in arrest presented no grounds for arresting the judgment.

Coining to the case of Coudrey, No. 4220, we find the following alleged errors properly assigned:

(1) “The court erred in refusing to sustain .the defendant’s demurrer to the evidence at the close of the whole case, as to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh counts of the indictment.”
(2) “The court erred in overruling its motion in arrest of judgment.”
The court erred in refusing to charge the jury as follows:
(3) “The court instructs the jury that the offense charged against the defendants contains three elements: First, the devising or intending to devise a scheme or artifice to defraud; second, such scheme or artifice to defraud to be effected by opening or intending to open correspondence, by means of the postal service of the United States, with any person or persons, or by inciting the other person to open communication with the person so devising or intending; and, third, for the purpose of executing or carrying into effect such scheme, actually placing a letter in the mails.”

Passing assignment No. 1 and coming to assignment No. 2, we find that this assignment directly raises the sufficiency of the indictment, as the principal ground upon which Coudrey moved in arrest was that the indictment or any of its counts did not state facts sufficient to constitute an offense under the laws of the United States.

It is first objected that counts 1 and 2 of the indictment are fatally defective for want of an averment that the defendants mailed the letters set forth in the indictment for the purpose of executing the alleged scheme.' We cannot understand this objection, for both counts charge in reference to the mailing of the letters that they were mailed or placed in the post office “in and for the purpose, and with the intention on their part of executing and effecting the said scheme and artifice and attempting so to do.” It is next urged that each count of the indictment is fatally defective for want of a specification distinctly setting forth the artifice and fraud, for want of an averment of intent, and because the indictment is vague, uncertain, and blends several distinct schemes in one count and attempts to charge that several different classes of persons were victimized by separate, distinct, and widely varying schemes.

[1] The indictment after alleging that the defendants did fraudulently, knowingly, and unlawfully devise a certain scheme and artifice to defraud certain persons and classes of persons, therein mentioned and described, and the public in general, and for obtaining money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises from said persons, and said class of persons, and the public in general residing in the United States, and thereby defraud-[578]*578ing said persons of the same, and thereby converting the same to their own use and benefit, proceeds with great detail to set forth the character of the scheme, and then falsifies these averments by proper allegations. The character of the scheme and the averments of falsification cannot be set forth within the limits of this opinion, but it may be said generally that the scheme was ■ that Gardner and Coudrey should fraudulently procure the organization of two companies, as corporations, under the laws of the state of Missouri, for tire purpose of using the same as a cloak to cover and fraudulently obtain money and property from the persons named in the indictment and others by the means and in the way particularly and at length set forth in tire indictment, and for the purposes therein stated.

[2] It is the established rule in this court that while particulars of the scheme are matters of substance and must be described with certainty sufficient to show its existence and character and to fairly acquaint the accused with the particular fraudulent scheme charged against them, the scheme itself need not be pleaded with all the certainty as to time, place and circumstance requisite in charging the gist of the -offense, the mailing of the letter or other article in execution or attempted execution of the same. Colburn v. United States, 223 Fed. 590, 139 C. C. A. 136; Gould et al. v. United States, 209 Fed. 730, 126 C. C. A. 454; Brooks v. United States, 146 Fed. 223, 76 C. C. A. 581; Lemon v. United States, 164 Fed. 953, 90 C. C. A. 617; Horn v. United States, 182 Fed. 721, 105 C. C. A. 163. Tested by the above rule we think the indictment is sufficient, especially when attacked only by motion in arrest.

Coming now to assignment of error No. 3, we may say that the charge requested was' sound law and applicable to the facts proven, and should have been given unless the trial court gave in its own charge • something equivalent thereto.

[3] We have carefully examined the charge of the court as given and we are unable to satisfy ourselves that the trial court gave any charge on its own motion, which we could say was an equivalent for the charge requested. The court did read section 5480 to the jury, but, when it came to construe said section, it said to the jury:

“Xou will see from what follows that two things must have been done by the defendants, and established to your satisfaction by the evidence in the case before you are authorized to find the defendants guilty. It must appear, first, that the defendants devised a scheme or artifice to defraud; second, that they, the defendants, for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice to defraud, or attempting so to do, deposited or caused to be deposited in the post office of the United States at St. Louis, for the purpose of having the same sent by the post office establishment of the United States, and in the furtherance of the scheme the letters and circulars mentioned, described and counted on in the several counts of the indictment before you.”

The court would seem to have had in mind section 215 of the Penal Code (Act March 4, 1909, c. 321, 35 Stat. 1130 [Comp. St. 1913, § 10,385]), when using the foregoing language. Again the court said to the jury:

“In the view the court takes of this matter it is wholly immaterial (so far as the present inquiry is concerned) whether the law was or was not strictly complied with in such organization, if you find and believe from the evidence [579]

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

Related

Truby Clarence Slade v. United States
267 F.2d 834 (Fifth Circuit, 1959)
Glover v. United States
125 F.2d 291 (Fifth Circuit, 1942)
United States v. Womack
98 F.2d 742 (Seventh Circuit, 1938)
Hass v. United States
93 F.2d 427 (Eighth Circuit, 1937)
Wolpa v. United States
86 F.2d 35 (Eighth Circuit, 1936)
Worthington v. United States
64 F.2d 936 (Seventh Circuit, 1933)
Butler v. United States
53 F.2d 800 (Tenth Circuit, 1931)
Havener v. United States
49 F.2d 196 (Tenth Circuit, 1931)
Cochran v. United States
41 F.2d 193 (Eighth Circuit, 1930)
Cowl v. United States
35 F.2d 794 (Eighth Circuit, 1929)
Turner v. United States
32 F.2d 126 (Eighth Circuit, 1929)
Brady v. United States
24 F.2d 397 (Eighth Circuit, 1928)
Mathews v. United States
15 F.2d 139 (Eighth Circuit, 1926)
Chew v. United States
9 F.2d 348 (Eighth Circuit, 1925)
Hays v. Stine
289 F. 224 (Fourth Circuit, 1923)
Fisk v. United States
279 F. 12 (Sixth Circuit, 1922)
Sevensma v. United States
278 F. 401 (Sixth Circuit, 1922)
Yaffee v. United States
276 F. 497 (Sixth Circuit, 1921)
Savage v. United States
270 F. 14 (Eighth Circuit, 1920)
Green v. United States
266 F. 779 (Eighth Circuit, 1920)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
230 F. 575, 144 C.C.A. 629, 1916 U.S. App. LEXIS 1468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gardner-v-united-states-ca8-1916.