Hudson v. United States

55 F.2d 591, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 3769
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 18, 1932
DocketNo. 9283
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 55 F.2d 591 (Hudson 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
Hudson v. United States, 55 F.2d 591, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 3769 (8th Cir. 1932).

Opinion

KENYON, Circuit Judge.

Appellant-defendant was convicted on two counts of an indictment each of whieh charged willful misapplication by him of the funds of the National Bank of Arkansas, whieh was operating under the Federal Reserve system. There were three other counts of the indictment upon whieh the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. WTiile the record is extended, the essential facts are few, and there is little dispute in the evidence. An instructed verdict of not guilty on counts 1 and 2 being the ones upon whieh defendant was convicted was requested at the close of the evidence. This was denied by the court, and the main assignment of error is in reference, to this action. There are other assignments relating to the introduction of evidence and the refusal to permit certain evidence to be introduced, whieh, in view of our conclusion on the main assignment, are of minor importance.

We refer first to the evidence as to count 1. Defendant was president of the National Bank of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Ark., whieh bank was a member bank of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He had been instrumental with others in forming the Salt Bayou drainage district in Arkansas, and had been secretary and treasurer of the same since its organization. He was also one of the commissioners of said district, appointed with two others in the act creating the same. Mrs. L. K. Land was county treasurer of Jefferson county, and as such treasurer she received from the tax collector the taxes from a number of improvement districts, including the Salt Bayou district. She deposited these funds in various banks, one of whieh was the National Bank of Arkansas. Defendant being evidently hard pressed by creditors secured from Mrs. Land a check on said bank for $12,500 payable to the National Bank of Arkansas, which represented funds of the Bayou district. This cheek was delivered by her to D. G. Young, assistant cashier of said bank. On this check she wrote in the corner, “Sault Bayou Drainage Dist.” He receipted for the same as such assistant cashier. This receipt had upon it the words, “Sault Bayou Drain. Dist.” Mr. Young took the check to the bank and laid it on defendant’s desk in the bank’s office, defendant not being there at the time. This check was never deposited by defendant. He used the same to pay for a draft drawn on the Hanover National Bank for $12,500, [593]*593payable to the Franklm-Ameriean Trust Company of St. Louis, which company eventually received the draft and secured the money thereon in payment of a personal debt owing by defendant to said trust company. The amount of this cheek was charged against the account of the county treasurer, Mrs. Land, upon the books of the bank. Defendant claimed that he had an arrangement ■with the district by which he could borrow district funds up to $60,000, and testified that on the same day he received the cheek he gave a note to the district for $12,500 indorsed by his wife, who was amply protected by life insurance to take care of his various notes given to the district in case of his death. These notes are in evidence. They were kept by him in a file in the bank marked, “W. C. Hudson, private,” the envelope being indorsed, “Salt Bayou.”

The evidence as to count 2 is this: In August, 1929, Mrs. Land, as county treasurer, delivered to defendant her check for $15,512.27, payable to the Salt Bayou drainage district. This was deposited by defendant in the Cotton Belt Bank & Trust Company. At his request there was issued back to him a cashier’s check for $8,900 payable to the National Bank of Arkansas. This he deposited to his individual credit in said bank and checked thereon for personal matters. The account in the Cotton Belt Bank & Trust Company was carried in the name of the “Salt Bayou Drainage District, W. C. Hudson, Treasurer.”

The statute under which this indictment was brought, USCA, title 12, § 592 (R. S. § 5209, as amended by Act of September 26, 1918, § 7), provides: “Any officer, director, agent, or employee of any Federal reserve bank, or of any member bank as defined in sections 221 to 225 of this title, who embezzles, abstracts, or willfully misapplies any of the moneys, funds, or credits of such Federal reserve bank or member bank,” ete.

It has been held by this court that misapplication of bank funds under section 5209, Revised Statutes, is not established unless it appear that the bank funds have been depleted by the action of the accused. In Dow et al. v. United States, 82 F. 904, 906 (this court) the meaning of the term “misapplication” as used in section 5209, Revised Statutes, was discussed. The court referred to United States v. Britton, 107 U. S. 655, 2 S. Ct. 512, 27 L. Ed. 520, and United States v. Northway, 120 U. S. 327, 7 S. Ct. 580, 30 L. Ed. 664, where the construction of said section 5209 of the Revised Statutes was involved, and held m line with these cases that there must be a conversion of funds to the use of the defendant with intent to injure and defraud the bank, and that misapplication was not made unless the funds of the bank had been depleted. The court said: “To complete a misapplication of the funds of the bank, it was necessary that some portion thereof should be withdrawn from the possession or control of the bank, or a conversion in some form should be made thereof, so that the bank would be deprived of the benefit thereof. It is not necessary in all cases that the money should be actually withdrawn from the bank.”

In United States v. Martindale, 146 F. 280, 282, referring to the same section, Judge Philips in the District Court said: “It has been expressly ruled by the Court of Appeals of this circuit that to complete the misapplication of the funds of a bank it is necessary that the fund should be withdrawn from the possession or control of the bank, or a conversion thereof in some form should occur, so that the bank loses the same.”

See, also, Batchelor v. United States, 156 U. S. 426, 15 S. Ct. 446, 39 L. Ed. 478.

In Bishop v. United States (C. C. A.) 16 F.(2d) 410, in a ease arising under the same statute as the present ease, this court held the misapplication of funds must be with a willful and felonious intent to injure or defraud the bank to constitute a crime thereunder. It is difficult to see just how the funds of the bank were depleted by the transaction set forth in count 1 of the indictment. Defendant delivered to the bank in payment for the draft on the Hanover National Bank the check for $12,500 drawn by Mrs. Land, a depositor. It was charged to her account. The bank’s liability to said depositor was lessened by the same amount its reserve was reduced by the payment of the draft on the Hanover National Bank.

The testimony of Mr. Schneider, an accountant of the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice, is interesting on this phase of the case. We quote therefrom as follows:

“By Mr. Sorrells:

“Q. That amount of $12,500.00 on that was charged to her account on that day, wasn’t it, Mr. Schneider? A. Yes, it was.

“Q. In the course of your investigation did you understand that twelve thousand five hundred dollar check of Mrs. Land’s was that used to purchase that exchange on the Hanover National Bank of New York? A. Yes, it was.

[594]*594:Q.

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Bluebook (online)
55 F.2d 591, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 3769, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudson-v-united-states-ca8-1932.