Siegel v. Commonwealth

197 S.W. 809, 177 Ky. 232, 1917 Ky. LEXIS 589
Court of Appeals of Kentucky·Decided October 19, 1917·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

Opinion op the Court by

Judge Hurt

— Affirming.

This is a companion case to the one of the same style and between the same parties, which was decided by this court on the 2nd day of October, 1917, and in the opinion, in that case, many of the facts, upon which this case is based were stated, but as some of the important facts of this case were not essential to he stated in that opinion, and the appellant entered a plea of guilty, in that case, and' a plea of not guilty, and a former trial and conviction in this case, it will be necessary to set out the facts of this case in order to a proper understanding of the questions raised, and a presentation of the reasons for the opinion of the court.

The indictment accused the appellant, I. Siegel, of the crime of “knowingly, fraudulently, unlawfully and feloniously uttering and delivering a check or order for the payment of money upon a bank, knowing at the time of such uttering and delivery that the maker or drawer had not sufficient funds in such bank for the payment of such check or order in full upon its presentation. ” The specifications of the indictment substantially charge, that the accused, with the intent to defraud, uttered and delivered to the German National Bank, of Newport, Kentucky, a [234]*234check drawn by J. Rnbin & Co.,- in favor of M. Mosler, upon the Jefferson Trust Company, a banking institution of Hoboken, New Jersey, for the sum of eighty-three dollars and twenty-four cents, and which bore the endorsement of M. Mosler and the accused; that the amount of the check was credited to the accused in the German National Bank, and the accused, thereafter, by check, withdrew the funds from the bank and appropriated them to his own use; that J. Rubin & Co., the drawer of the check, did not have any funds in the bank upon which it was drawn for its payment upon presentation, and that this fact was known to the accused, at the time he delivered it for deposit, to his credit in the German National Bank; that when the check was presented to the Jefferson Trust Co. for payment, it refused to pay it, because the drawer had no funds therein to his credit, and that the accused, nor any one for him nor for the drawer nor the endorser of the check, paid the amount of the check to the German National Bank, within twenty days, after the accused had received actual notice of the dishonor of the check.

The trial resulted in his conviction by the jury, and the fixing of his penalty at confinement in the state reformatory for the period of two years, and the rendition by the court of a judgment in accordance with the verdict of the jury.

The motion for a new trial having been overruled, the dissatisfaction of the accused with the judgment has caused him to bring it by appeal to this court.

The grounds urged for a reversal of the judgment are, that the trial court erred to the substantial prejudice of the accused:

(1) In overruling his demurrer to the indictment.

(2) In failing to direct a verdict in his favor, upon his motion, at the conclusion of the evidence for the Commonwealth, and at the conclusion of all evidence.

(3) In failing to instruct the jury upon the entire law of the ease.

(4) In admitting incompetent evidence against him and refusing to admit competent evidence in his behalf.

(a) The grounds, upon which it is urged that the demurrer to the indictment should have been sustained, are, that the indictment fails to state a public offense, in that the statute, section 1213a, Kentucky Statutes, and commonly called the “Cold Check Law,” does not make it an offense for an endorser of a check or draft, with the [235]*235intent to defraud, to utter or deliver a check, knowing that the maker has not funds in the bank, upon which it is drawn, sufficient to pay it, upon presentation, but that the only person, whom the statute makes a felon for such an act is the maker or drawer of the check or draft. This objection to the sufficiency of the indictment, against an endorser of a check for such offense, was fully considered in the companion case to this above mentioned, and it was there held, that if the endorser of a check uttered or delivered it, with the intent to defraud, he was within the statute and incurred the penalty therein denounced, and it will not be necessary to further consider that subject, here. The second objection urged to the sufficiency of the indictment is that it does not charge, that the accused nor any one in his behalf paid the check within twenty days after he had received actual notice of its dishonor. An examination of the indictment shows that such allegation was expressly made.

(b) It is urged that the court erred in overruling the motion of the accused for a directed verdict in his favor, because:

(1) The evidence failed to show that the accused knew at the time he uttered and delivered the check to the German National Bank that J. Rubin & Co.., the maker of the check, did not have funds in the Jefferson Trust Company sufficient to pay it.

(2) The evidence failed to show that the German National Bank was authorized by the laws of the United States or of any state or government.

(3) Because the uncontradicted evidence showed .that he had suffered a former trial and conviction for the same offense of which he was accused in the indictment.

Touching these alleged grounds for a directed verdict, a statement of the facts, as developed by the evidence, is necessary. The first appearance of the accused in Newport, so far as the evidence indicates, was on the 13th day of December, 1916, when he pretended to rent from a lady, in that city, a building, stating that he desired it, in which to conduct a dry goods store. He paid to the lady, as an earnest on the rent, the sum of two dollars, and placed a placard on the front of the building, an-_ nouncing, that in a very few days, he would open a dry' goods store in the building, and he, also, in his conversation with the lady, when he made the rental contract for the building, mentioned about the character of the goods, which he was intending to place in the building, and as[236]*236sured the lady, that she would have in him a permanent tenant. He immediately placed the placard in the front of the building and departed, and this was the last time the lady saw or heard of him, and he never placed any merchandise of any kind in the room. On the day following, which was December 14th, he entered the business place of the German National Bank, in Newport, and there deposited to his credit, in money, the sum of one hundred and fifty-five dollars. When asked by the teller of the bank for his signature, and address, he said that he would give them his “business address,” and thereupon wrote his name, with the number and street of the store house, which he had pretended to rent. On the 15th day of December, he returned to the bank and made a deposit of fifty dollars, in money. On .the 16th day of December, he deposited the further sum of fifteen dollars. On the 18th day of December, he came into the bank and made a deposit to his credit of the two cheeks. One was drawn by J. Rubin & Co. on the Jefferson Trust Company, for the sum of eighty-three dollars and twenty-four cents, and payable to M. Hosier and endorsed by Hosier and also by the accused. The other cheek had been apparently drawn by J. Breslau & Sons, on the Richmond Borough National Bank, of Stapleton, New York, for the sum of ninety-six dollars and three cents, and was payable to IT.

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Siegel v. Commonwealth, 197 S.W. 809, 177 Ky. 232, 1917 Ky. LEXIS 589 (Ky. Ct. App. 1917).

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