State v. Boysen

238 N.W. 581, 214 Iowa 46
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedOctober 27, 1931
DocketNo. 40940.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 238 N.W. 581 (State v. Boysen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Boysen, 238 N.W. 581, 214 Iowa 46 (iowa 1931).

Opinion

Faville, C. J.

At the time charged in the indictment the appellant was the sole owner of a private bank located in Plymouth County, Iowa. The charging part of the indictment is as follows:

“The said Ernest Boysen on or about the 6th day of September, in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-nine, in the county aforesaid did wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously while engaged in the banking, exchange and deposit business, and while insolvent, and knowing of such insolvency, did knowingly accept and receive on deposit money, currency, draft and check from one G. Lueken in the amount of fifteen hundred thirty-seven and 50/100ths ($1,537.50) dollars, with intent to defraud and receive financial benefit therefrom contrary to the statute in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State of Iowa.”

To this indictment the appellant filed a demurrer especially challenging that part of the indictment which alleges that the act referred to had been done “with intent to defraud and receive financial benefit therefrom. ’ ’ The basis of the demurrer was that said allegations were too indefinite and charged no offense under the statute, and did not sufficiently inform appellant of the offense charged against him. The demurrer was overruled and thereafter the appellant filed a motion to strike said portion of said indictment upon the same grounds as were urged in the demurrer. This motion was likewise overruled. Appellant predicates error upon the ruling on said demurrer and motion. The specific ground of complaint now urged is that the indictment failed to allege the name of the person whom it is claimed the appellant intended to defraud.

The original statute, which is commonly known as the “statute prohibiting fraudulent banking,” is found in Code *48 1927, Section 9280. This section was amended by Chapter 30 of the Acts of the Forty-third General Assembly, which inserted in the original statute the clause: “with intent to defraud or receiving financial benefit therefrom,” so that the statute under which this indictment was drawn is as follows:

“If any such bank, banking house, exchange broker, deposit office, firm, company, corporation, or person shall receive or accept on deposit any such deposits, as aforesaid, when insolvent, any owner, officer, director, cashier, manager, member, or person knowing of such insolvency, who shall knowingly with intent to defraud or receiving financial benefit therefrom receive or accept, be accessory, or permit, or connive at receiving or accepting on deposit therein, or thereby, any such deposits, or renew any certificate of deposit, as aforesaid, shall be guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not more than ten years, or by imprisonment in the county jail not more than one year, or by both fine and imprisonment.”

It is to be observed that the indictment specifies the act which it is alleged the appellant committed, and in the very language of the statute charges that this act was done “with intent to defraud.” It is not essential to the validity of an indictment drawn under this section of the statute to state the name of the person whom the defendant, by the act of receiving the deposit, intended to defraud.

Code Section 13045 provides in part as follows:

‘ ‘ If any person designedly and by false pretense, or by any privy or false token, and with intent to defraud, obtain from another any money, goods, or other property, ® * *” he shall be punished.

We had this statute under consideration in State v. Hazen, 104 Iowa 16, wherein, as in the. ease at bar, the indictment described the act with which the defendant was charged and alleged that it was done “with intent to defraud” but did not name the person whom the defendant intended to defraud. We held that the averment of the indictment followed the statute and was sufficient, and that, in any event, it appeared from the *49 language of the indictment when fairly construed that the false representations were made to the party named to obtain his signature, that he relied upon and believed the representations and affixed his signature, and that the party was defrauded was clear, and that the intent to do just what was done was sufficiently stated. So in the case at bar it clearly and sufficiently appears from the indictment that the deposit was knowingly received by the appellant from Lucken while the bank was insolvent and known by appellant'to be insolvent, with intent to defraud. It was not necessary to name the party intended to be defrauded, but that Lucken was defrauded is clear, and that appellant intended to do just wha!t was done is sufficiently stated.

See, also, State v. McConkey, 49 Iowa 499; State v. Neimeier, 66 Iowa 634; State v. Jamison, 74 Iowa 613. To the same effect, see State v. Scott, 48 Mo. 422.

Furthermore, Code Section 13732-c2 provides that an indictment is valid and sufficient if it charges the offense for which the accused is being prosecuted “by stating so much of the definition of the offense, either in terms of the common law or of the statute defining the offense, or in terms of substantially the same meaning, as is sufficient to give the court and the accused notice of what offense is intended to be charged.” The indictment in this case clearly meets this requirement of the statute.

Section 13732-cl2, Par. 2, provides:

“An allegation generally of an intent to defraud and injure is sufficient without alleging an intent to defraud or injure any particular person, unless such allegation is necessary to charge the offense under section 13732-c2.”

Under the statute under which this indictment was drawn it was not necessary to allege an intent to injure any particular person in order to charge the offense. The court did not err in overruling the demurrer and the motion to strike from the indictment. State v. Goldenberg, 211 Iowa 234, relied on by appellant, is in no way inconsistent with our decision at this point.

II. The county attorney voluntarily furnished a bill of particulars wherein, among other things, it is set forth that the defendant received the deposit in question with intent to defraud the depositor Lucken. Appellant contends that a material allegation of the indictment cannot be supplied by a bill of *50 particulars. Such appears to be the law. State v. Davis, 39 R. I. 276, 97 Atl. 818; Middleton v. State, 74 Fla. 234, 76 So. 785; Commonwealth v. Jordan, 207 Mass. 259, 93 N. E. 809; State v. Boone, 65 Wash. 331, 118 Pac. 46. But in the instant case it sufficiently appears from the indictment that the appellant intended to defraud the depositor and it was sufficient without the specifications contained in the bill of particulars.

III. The appellant moved for a directed verdict at the close of the testimony for the State. This motion was overruled.

In a motion for a new trial the appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict. We have examined the record with care. No useful purpose would be served by a recital of the evidence in this opinion.

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Bluebook (online)
238 N.W. 581, 214 Iowa 46, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-boysen-iowa-1931.