State v. Denami

594 S.W.2d 747, 1979 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 308
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 5, 1979
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 594 S.W.2d 747 (State v. Denami) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Denami, 594 S.W.2d 747, 1979 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 308 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

OPINION

DWYER, Judge.

The appellant appeals from his conviction under a two-count indictment wherein he was charged in each count with drawing a check without sufficient funds, T.C.A. § 39-1959, for an amount over $100. The punishment on the first count was fixed by the jury at confinement for not less than three years nor more than five years and on the second count at not less than nor more than three years.

The court-appointed public defender of Davidson County raises these assignments of error on behalf of the appellant: (1) the evidence preponderates against the conviction of the defendant and in favor of his innocence, (2) the trial court erred in allowing the defendant to waive his right to counsel and represent himself at the trial, (3) the trial court erred in refusing to grant the defendant’s motion to suppress fruits of the illegal search of his vehicle at the Eighth and McGavock Branch of First American National Bank, (4) the trial court erred in overruling the defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment in which it was alleged that the indictment did not conclude with the language, “against the peace and dignity of the State of Tennessee.”

At the outset of our narration of the evidence we call attention to certain settled rules of law. It is not necessary for us to discuss the evidence offered on a pro and con basis, for the jury has settled the conflicts in testimony and credibility of witnesses. Hargrove v. State, 199 Tenn. 25, 28, 281 S.W.2d 692, 694 (1955). It is not our duty to reevaluate the evidence as thus accredited. State v. Grace, 493 S.W.2d 474, 476 (Tenn.1973). The evidence summarized here is viewed in the strongest legitimate light in the favor of the State’s theory of the prosecution. State v. Pritchett, 524 S.W.2d 470, 472 (Tenn.1975).

Around 11:00 A.M. on December 16,1977, Mr. Gordon Publow, Jr., assistant manager of the 100 Oaks Office of the First American National Bank in Nashville, saw the appellant at the Anytime Teller located in front of that office. Appellant then entered the bank and approached Mr. Pub-low’s desk with a business-style check encoded by a check protector in the amount of $15,500. The appellant asked Publow to cash the check which was made payable to First American National Bank and was drawn on appellant’s account with the bank. He showed Mr. Publow a California driver’s license as identification. Mr. Pub-low, concerned about the amount of the personal check and the fact that he had never seen the appellant before, dialed the bank’s computer and, using his personal identification code number, requested a “mark-up” of the check on appellant’s account. This procedure results in a “hold”, in the amount encoded, on the contingent balance of the account. The contingent balance shows the amount in the account at a particular time during the day, including any deposit the customer has made during that day, if he requested that it be “marked up”, so that those funds are available for withdrawal during the same day. This contingent balance survives only until the end of the banking day, when it is superceded by the book balance — an amount ascertained by the bank’s bookkeeping department from actual physical records of transactions. In other words, the contingent balance is valid beyond one day only if the bank receives proof that funds were deposited to match the amount shown in the contingent balance.

Although the computer accepted the “hold” on appellant’s account, indicating that there were sufficient funds to cover the amount of the check, Mr. Publow remained suspicious and, again using his personal code number, requested appellant’s book balance (which reflects the balance at the end of the previous banking day) from the computer. After being notified that the book balance was zero, Publow returned the check to the appellant, refusing to cash it, and suggested that he go to the bank’s [749]*749main office (where appellant claimed to have made several deposits earlier that morning) to check on his account. After appellant left, Mr. Publow removed his “hold” on the account and learned that the contingent or “available” balance was over $78,000.00. Publow, uneasy about the conflict in the balances and the overall transaction, notified the bank’s security office and described what had happened.

Around 11:30 A.M. the appellant approached Ms. Anne Wilson, assistant manager of the Melrose Branch of the First American National Bank, presented a business-style check in the amount of $15,500, and asked her to cash it. He deviated from his procedure at the 100 Oaks Branch by telling Ms. Wilson that she should check the computer as to his balance, and he then showed her a California driver’s license. Using her code number for the computer, she “marked up” the amount of the check, i. e., placed a “hold” on that amount of funds in the account, and gave him $5,000 in cash and a $10,500 cashier’s check. Within minutes after appellant departed Ms. Wilson received an alert from security about the appellant and his check activities.

The next check incident occurred at 12:30 P.M. when the appellant appeared at the desk of Ms. Linda Hamsley, the acting assistant manager of the Eighth and McGa-vock Office of the bank. The appellant used an approach similar to the one at the other two branches. Ms. Hamsley, however, received information about the appellant over the phone while he was waiting for her to help him, and she called bank security without cashing the check.

The appellant was taken into custody at that location and stated that the $78,000.00 in the account was his, that he made many deposits in his account, that he was wealthy, and that he was a member of the bank’s board of directors. He later admitted that the funds were not his, but claimed that when he found out about the money, he tried to withdraw it.

The appellant’s rented car was searched at the police tow-in lot and some fifteen or twenty other checks were found already cut by a check protector in the amount of $15,-500 and dated December 16th. The appellant’s passport, his vaccination certificate, and a page from the telephone directory listing the branch offices of the First American National Bank in Nashville were also found in the car.

There was testimony that appellant, in making transactions in his account with the bank prior to December 16th, had demonstrated to the tellers how to program the transactions into the computer. There was further proof that appellant had been employed by the bank in the data programming department and that he could have obtained information from the computer about the code numbers used by bank employees for computer entries. There was also proof that appellant was employed as a computer operator for another company at the time of the incident.

The evidence further reflects that on December 16th there was no money in appellant’s account and that this condition had existed for about a week prior to that time. There was also testimony that appellant had never had more than $722.95 in his account at any one time.

The appellant did not testify but called some of the State’s witnesses and a witness as to his whereabouts on the morning of December 16th. This witness had no memory of where the appellant was on that date.

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

Related

State of Tennessee v. Marcia C. Robinson and Sammy Claude Wilson
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2001
United States v. Patsy Barb
20 F.3d 694 (Sixth Circuit, 1994)
State v. Dubrock
649 S.W.2d 602 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1983)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
594 S.W.2d 747, 1979 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 308, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-denami-tenncrimapp-1979.