State v. Frierson

569 S.E.2d 687, 153 N.C. App. 242, 2002 N.C. App. LEXIS 1134
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedOctober 1, 2002
DocketNo. COA01-1250
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 569 S.E.2d 687 (State v. Frierson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Frierson, 569 S.E.2d 687, 153 N.C. App. 242, 2002 N.C. App. LEXIS 1134 (N.C. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

HUNTER, Judge.

Jeffrey B. Frierson (“defendant”) appeals from a judgment sentencing him to a suspended term of five to six months in prison upon his conviction of embezzlement. Defendant claims the trial court erred in admitting certain records into evidence under the business records exception to the hearsay rule because the State failed to lay a proper foundation. For reasons stated herein, we find no error.

Defendant was charged with embezzling money belonging to J.T. Enterprises, Inc., a management company that runs several McDonald’s restaurants, including the one at issue in this case located at the intersection of South Elm-Eugene Street and Lee Street in Greensboro, North Carolina. Evidence at trial tended to show that defendant was promoted to manager of this McDonald’s in January 1999. As manager, defendant’s responsibilities included overseeing the day-to-day operations of the restaurant. Johnny Tart (“Mr. Tart”) is the owner of this McDonald’s and President of J.T. Enterprises, Inc.

At trial, Mr. Tart explained the procedure for handling and depositing cash receipts for the restaurant where defendant was employed. According to Mr. Tart, each shift manager takes the cash receipts from the registers for that shift’s sales, counts the money and fills out a deposit slip for the checking account. The deposit slip and [244]*244the money are then put into a bag, sealed, placed in a safe and locked up. After placing the money and deposit slip in the safe, the shift manager logs into the restaurant’s computer system using an identifying code and enters the deposit amount. Thereafter, the money and deposit slips are taken from the safe to the bank for deposit. According to Mr. Tart, at the particular McDonald’s where defendant was employed, defendant was the only manager who had a car to drive to the bank, so he was given permission to take all of the deposits from the safe to the bank. Mr. Tart further testified that the only other person who could have taken deposits to the bank from that McDonald’s was Mike Teeple, an operations manager in charge of four McDonald’s restaurants and employed by J.T. Enterprises, Inc.

Once the bank deposit is made and a receipt of the deposit from the bank is received, the deposit is “validated” in the restaurant’s computer. According to Mr. Tart, defendant was the only manager at the McDonald’s restaurant where he was employed who was able to validate deposits. This validating procedure is merely a way of confirming that the cash has gone from the safe to the bank and that the total amount on the deposit slip from the bank matches the amount that was supposed to have been deposited.

After a deposit slip is validated, a cash sheet for that day is printed showing the amount of total sales, receipts and deposits. The deposit slips are then stapled to the cash sheet and validation sheet. The cash sheet, validation sheet, and deposit slips are then sent to the J.T. Enterprises, Inc. office-where the deposits are entered into the checkbook so that a running balance can be kept for check writing purposes.

The State offered evidence in the form of validation reports, alleged counterfeit deposit slips, and First Union Bank CAP account statements to show that defendant validated deposits that the State alleged were never deposited into J.T. Enterprises, Inc.’s account at First Union Bank. Mr. Tart discovered that certain deposits that were supposed to have been made, according to the alleged counterfeit deposit receipts and validation sheets, were never made, when a check bounced on the J.T. Enterprises, Inc. account and when he reviewed bank statements which failed to show some deposits for which he had alleged counterfeit deposit receipts. Mr. Tart testified that when he reviewed the bank statements, he noticed that he was missing deposits for $958.45, $645.87, $2,128.65, $1,288.24, $933.17, and $936.02. These cash amounts were supposed [245]*245to have been deposited on 30 August 1999, 19 September 1999, 25 September 1999, 8 October 1999, 12 October 1999, and 16 October 1999, respectively.

Angie Barnett (“Ms. Barnett”), a commercial teller at First Union Bank where the McDonald’s deposits were made, recognized defendant at trial since he was in the bank on a daily basis to make deposits for McDonald’s. She testified that on 18 October 1999, defendant entered the bank, broke into her line, looked fidgety and nervous, handed her a folded deposit slip and asked her to drop it in the drop box, where the deposit receipts were kept for deposits made after the bank had closed. Later that day, Ms. Barnett inspected the folded deposit slip dated 16 October 1999 for $936.02 and noticed that this deposit slip did not look like other deposit slips used by First Union— the boldness of the print of the stamp was different and it was tom instead of perforated.

The defense presented evidence that other employees besides defendant would travel to the bank and make deposits for the restaurant. Defendant testified that occasionally Mike Teeple, the operations manager, would make deposits, call defendant at the restaurant, and tell him to validate the deposit when defendant had not seen the receipt from the bank.

Defendant was charged in a true bill of indictment with embezzlement. On 28 March 2001, a jury found him guilty as charged. Defendant appeals from the judgment entered upon the verdict.

Defendant contends the trial court erred in admitting into evidence the McDonald’s franchise’s deposit slips (both allegedly counterfeit and valid), validation reports, and First Union CAP account statements under the business records exception to the hearsay rule because the State failed to lay a proper foundation for the records’ admission. For the following reasons, we conclude that these exhibits were either offered for a non-hearsay purpose or were properly admitted under the business records exception to the hearsay rule after the State laid a proper foundation for their admission.

At the outset, hearsay is defined as “a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 801(c) (2001). “If a statement is offered for any other purpose, it is not hearsay and is admissible.” State v. Dickens, 346 N.C. 26, 46, 484 S.E.2d 553, 564 (1997). Hearsay is inadmissible unless it [246]*246falls within a recognized exception to the hearsay rule. State v. Parker, 140 N.C. App. 169, 539 S.E.2d 656 (2000), appeal dismissed and disc. review denied, 353 N.C. 394, 547 S.E.2d 37, cert. denied, 532 U.S. 1032, 149 L. Ed. 2d 777 (2001).

Business records are admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule if “made in the regular course of business, at or near the time of the transaction involved, and . . . authenticated by a witness who is familiar with them and the system under which they were made ... State v. Galloway, 304 N.C. 485, 492, 284 S.E.2d 509, 514 (1981). It is unnecessary for the witness who authenticates the records to be the person who made them. State v. Wilson, 313 N.C. 516, 330 S.E.2d 450 (1985).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
569 S.E.2d 687, 153 N.C. App. 242, 2002 N.C. App. LEXIS 1134, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-frierson-ncctapp-2002.