State v. Marshall

59 A. 916, 77 Vt. 262, 1905 Vt. LEXIS 119
CourtSupreme Court of Vermont
DecidedFebruary 14, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 59 A. 916 (State v. Marshall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Marshall, 59 A. 916, 77 Vt. 262, 1905 Vt. LEXIS 119 (Vt. 1905).

Opinion

Start, J.

At the close of the evidence, the respondent moved for a verdict of acquittal, for that the crime charged, if committed, was not committed in Vermont but in the State-of New York, and because the person personated had no interest in the check which the respondent procured of The O. L. Hinds Co., and the same was not intended for him. The-information, as amended, charges that Joseph H. Marshall of Burlington in the county of Chittenden, on, to; wit, the first day of October, 1903, at said Burlington in the county of Chittenden, feloniously, unlawfully and designedly, did falsely personate one Joseph H. Marshall of Atlantic, Iowa, and represent himself to The O. L. Hinds Co., a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Ver[268]*268mont, with main office at Burlington, Vermont, to be the said Joseph H. Marshall of Atlantic, Iowa, and thereupon, did then and there to- the said The O. B. Hinds Co. falsely assume the name and person of the said Joseph H. Marshall of Atlantic, Iowa, by means of which false assertion and pretence the said Joseph H. Marshall then and there unlawfully, knowingly and designedly, fraudulently received of The O. B. Hinds Co. a certain order for money cofrimonly called a bank check, which said bank check was dated on the 21st day of September, 1903, and drawn on the Howard National Bank to the order of Joseph H. Marshall, for the sum of one hundred dollars, and signed, “The O. Bi Hinds Co., O. B. Hinds, President,” which said bank check was of the value of, to wit, one hundred dollars, the monies and goods and chattels of the said The O. B. Hinds C'o-., which was then and there by the said Tire O. B. Hinds Co. intended to be delivered to- the said Joseph H. Marshall o'f Atlantic, Io-wa, the perso-n so- falsely personated, as aforesaid, with the intent of him, the said Joseph H. Marshall, to fraudulently convert the same to- his own use, against the will of the said The O. B- Hinds Co1., contrary to the form, force and effect of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State. This information sufficiently charges an offence under V. S. 4960, which provides, among other things, that a person who- designedly by false pretences -or by a privy or false token and with intent to- defraud, obtains from- another person mo-ney or other property, shall be imprisoned in the state prison not more than ten years, or fined not more than one thousand dollars.

The false personating of another, for the purpose pf fraudulently obtaining property, is a false pretence, and, if a perso-n b-y so personating another obtains property, he does so by false pretence, within the meaning of the statute above [269]*269referred to; and, under an information charging the obtaining of property by falsely personating another, one may be convicted for obtaining property by false pretences, for he thereby obtains property by false pretences. In 2 Bishop’s New Criminal Law, 152, it is said: “If one represents himself to be another person, whereby he accomplishes a cheat, his visible presence is a token, which if false, is a false token. Indeed a false personation is a false pretence within statutes prevailing everywhere.” In Commonwealth v. Drew, 19 Pick. 179, it is held that the assumption of a fictitious name is a false pretence within the 'meaning of a statute which provides, that all persons who knowingly and designedly, by false pretence or pretences, shall obtain from, any person or persons money, goods, wares, merchandise or other thing, with intent to cheat or defraud any person or persons of the same, shall on conviction be punished as in the statute is specified. The information being sufficient to justify a conviction upon evidence showing that the respondent procured the check from The O. L. Hinds Coi. by false pretences, and the evidence having such tendency, the fact that Joseph H. Marshall of Atlantic, Iowa, had no 'connection with the check, and that the same was not intended for him, unless he was the respondent, if such was the fact, was immaterial, and notwithstanding* such fact, the respondent could be rightfully convicted, under the information, of the offence of obtaining the check by false pretences, contrary to the provisions of V. S. 4960. Nor is the fact, that, if it had appeared that Joseph H. Marshall of Atlantic, Iowa, was interested in the check, and that the same was intended for him, the respondent might have been convicted o’f an offence under V. S. 4959, which provides, that a person who falsely personates or represents another, and in such assumed character receives money or other property intended to be delivered to the party so> personated, with intent [270]*270to convert the same to his own use, shall be imprisoned iñ the state prison not more than ten. years, or fined not more than five hundred dollars, or both, material; for, as we have seen, the obtaining of property by falsely personating- another is obtaining property by false pretences, and, if the state showed that the respondent by such pretences received property intended to be delivered to- the party personated, a conviction could be had under section 4959, and failing in this, the respondent could be convicted of an offence against section 4960, if it appeared that he obtained the property by falsely personating another. This last mentioned section, in effect, prohibits the obtaining of property by falsely personating another, and, if the property was not intended for the person personated, the offence is clearly punishable under this section, and under an information charging false personation; therefore, the respondent’s motion, in so far as it was based upon the fact that Joseph H. Marshall of Atlantic, Iowa, had no interest in the check and that the same was not intended for him, unless he was the respondent, was properly denied. Nor was the respondent entitled to a verdict of acquittal upon his claim that the offence, if any, was committed in New York and not in Vermont. The material false pretences by the respondent consisted in his falsely representing, in a letter written to The O. L. Hinds Co. from New York and received by the Company at Burlington, Vermont, that he was Joseph H. Marshall of Atlantic, Iowa, and in his coming to. Burlington, Vermont, as such Joseph H. Marshall and there, by his presence, after writing The O. T. Hinds Co. that he was Joseph H. Marshall of Atlantic, Iowa, and by his statements to The O. L. Hinds Co., personating said Joseph H. Marshall of Atlantic, Iowa, and thereby procuring from The O. T. Hinds Co. a check of the value of one hundred dollars.6 In so doing, the respondent did, in this State, by false pretences, obtain [271]*271property contrary to the provisions of our statute, and did thereby subject himself to punishment in this State.

The respondent, in' the course of his correspondence with The O. L. Hinds Co., had referred them to' a book published by R. G. Dun & Co., for the purpose of showing the commercial rating of Joseph H. Marshall of Atlantic, Iowa, whom he represented himself to be; and The O. L. Hinds Co. had examined the then current book of Dun & Co. for the purpose of ascertaining the rating of Joseph H. Marshall. The book thus examined was received in evidence, subject to the respondent’s exception. The respondent having referred to the book of Dun & Co. for his commercial rating, without naming any particular book, it must be taken as a reference to a book which showed his then rating, which was the then current book, and The O. D.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 A. 916, 77 Vt. 262, 1905 Vt. LEXIS 119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-marshall-vt-1905.