Logsdon v. State

2010 OK CR 7, 231 P.3d 1156, 2010 WL 1472648
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 22, 2010
DocketF-2008-78
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 2010 OK CR 7 (Logsdon v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Logsdon v. State, 2010 OK CR 7, 231 P.3d 1156, 2010 WL 1472648 (Okla. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

A. JOHNSON, Vice Presiding Judge.

[1 Appellant Jack Aaron Logsdon was tried by jury and convicted and sentenced in the District Court of Logan County, Case No. CF-2005-189, of sixteen counts of fraudulent sales of securities, forgery, obtaining money by false pretenses, and racketeering.1 The Honorable Donald L. Worthington, who presided at trial, ordered that each sentence be served consecutively for a total term of imprisonment of twenty-nine years. Additionally, the district court imposed jury-ree-ommended fines of $8,000 on Counts 13 and 15, and $4,000 on Counts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16. Further, the district court ordered restitution in the amount of $1,194,238.48. On appeal Logsdon raises the following issues:

(1) whether the evidence was sufficient to support a conviction on Count 17 for racketeering;
(2) whether the jury instructions on the counts alleging fraudulent sales of se[1160]*1160curities were defective for not defining the term. "security" as requiring an investment of money in the risk capital of a business;
(8 < whether the trial court committed reversible error by allowing the jury to separate for the evening after they had retired for deliberations;
(4) whether the trial court's restitution order must be vacated because the statutory procedure for determining the amount of restitution was not followed and because the amount of the victims' loss was not determined with reasonable certainty;
(5 ~" whether the evidence was sufficient to support conviction on Count 1 for the fraudulent sale of a security;
(6) whether his convictions on Counts 9, 10, 11, and 12, for fraudulent sales of securities and second degree forgery, violate statutory prohibitions against multiple punishment or violate constitutional prohibitions against double jeopardy;
(7) whether the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction in Count 13 for obtaining money or other valuable thing by false pretenses;
(8) whether the trial court abused its discretion by running all his sentences consecutively;
(9) whether his fifteen year sentence on Count 17 for racketeering should be modified because the jury was not instructed that he would be required to serve 50% of his sentence before becoming eligible for early release from confinement;
(10) whether his conviction for racketeering in Count 17, which incorporated the crimes alleged in Counts 1 through 16, violates constitutional and statutory prohibitions against multiple punishment and double jeopardy;
(11) whether the trial court committed reversible error by allowing inadmissible hearsay into evidence;
(12) whether the prosecutor engaged in misconduct by raising the prohibited "societal alarm" argument during closing argument;
(13) whether the trial court committed reversible error by allowing inadmissible evidence of other crimes into evidence; and
' (14) whether he was denied a fair trial by the cumulative effect of multiple errors and irregularities during trial

12 We find reversal is not required and affirm the convictions and sentences on all counts except Count 17. We affirm the conviction on Count 17, but modify the sentence from a term of imprisonment of fifteen years to a term of imprisonment of ten years.

T3 For the reasons set out below, we vacate the district court's restitution order and remand for a re-determination of the restitution amount.

BACKGROUND

T4 Logsdon operated cattle and cattle investment businesses in Logan County. He also owned a travel enterprise that consisted of several different business entities, and dealt in real estate. The charging information alleged, and the State was required to prove at trial, that Logsdon:

(1) engaged in fraudulent sales of securities by selling investment contracts for interests in cattle that did not exist and by selling investment contracts for ownership interests in his various travel enterprises that were already held by other investors;
(2) forged two cattle sale option contracts;
(38) obtained money by false pretenses by causing one investor to pay another investor for purchasing cattle, but in reality the investor was paying off part of Logsdon's fraudulent debt to the other investor; and
(4) engaged in racketeering by using the facilities of his existing cattle and travel business operations to conduct the alleged criminal activities.

[1161]*1161Because the crimes charged in this case involved multiple schemes, seventeen separate crimes, and at least a dozen victims, the relevant facts will be discussed as they pertain to each individual claim of error.

DISCUSSION

1.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

Racketeering

(Count 17)

£5 The evidence was sufficient to support a conviction for racketeering in Count 17 because when the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the State, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Spuehler v. State, 1985 OK CR 132, ¶7, 709 P.2d 202, 203-04 (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 316, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2787, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)). Specifically, the evidence was sufficient to prove both the existence of an enterprise and Logsdon's participation in its affairs through a connected pattern of racketeering activity. Miskovsky v. State, 2001 OK CR 26, ¶5, 31 P.3d 1054, 1059.

2.

Jury Instruction

Fraudulent Sale of Security

(Counts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16)

T6 The district court's jury instruetion, which omitted a definition of the term "security" as a contribution to the risk capital of a venture, was proper. With one exception, the evidence showed that all the securities alleged to have been fraudulently sold were investment contracts, not contributions to the risk capital of a venture. Therefore, because the trial court defined the term "investment contract" in its instructions to the jury, and because the instruction tracked the statutory language, it correctly stated the applicable law and no instruction on contribution to risk capital was required.2 Cleary v. State, 1997 OK CR 35, ¶25, 942 P.2d 736, 745 ("Jury instructions are sufficient if, as a whole, they properly instruct the jury."). There is no plain error here. Hogan v. State, 2006 OK CR 19, ¶¶39, 44, 139 P.3d 907, 923, 925, rehearing granted, 2006 OK CR 27, 139 P.3d 907, 3.

3.

Jury Separation

T7 Without objection by counsel, the trial court judge permitted jurors to go home for the evening while they were still deliberating despite the requirement of 22 0.8.2001, § 857 that jurors be kept together until they have agreed on a verdict.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2010 OK CR 7, 231 P.3d 1156, 2010 WL 1472648, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/logsdon-v-state-oklacrimapp-2010.