State v. McMikle

673 S.W.2d 791, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4643
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 31, 1984
Docket13358
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 673 S.W.2d 791 (State v. McMikle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. McMikle, 673 S.W.2d 791, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4643 (Mo. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

CROW, Presiding Judge.

A jury found appellant guilty of the class D felony of passing a bad check in the face amount of $150 or more, §§ 570.120.1 and .120.6(1), RSMo 1978, and assessed punishment at “no imprisonment but a fine, in an amount to be determined by the *793 court.” The trial court sentenced appellant to pay a fine of $10,000. 1

Appellant asserts the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence, Rule 27.02(j), 2 inasmuch as the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of guilty. 3 Appellant also assigns error in the denial of his motion to dismiss the information because it failed to charge a crime, the denial of his motion to dismiss because of prosecutorial vindictiveness, and the granting of the State’s motion in limine. Appellant further contends that the trial court should have declared a mistrial because of an irregularity in the return of the verdict, and that he (appellant) should not have been prosecuted because the effect was to assist the complaining witnesses in collecting moneys due them from appellant in “civil disputes.”

The thrust of appellant’s attack on the sufficiency of the evidence is that it does not support a finding that he passed the check with the purpose to defraud. In ruling this issue, we consider the evidence and all favorable inferences reasonably to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, and disregard all contrary evidence and inferences. State v. McDonald, 661 S.W.2d 497, 500[1] (Mo. banc 1983).

So viewed, the evidence establishes that on September 9, 1982, appellant opened an account with The Salcedo Company (“Salce-do”), a Missouri corporation whose office is in Scott County, and whose business is “trading commodities.” Salcedo’s corporate shares are owned in equal portion by Kenneth Edward Cantrell, Kenneth Wayne Anderson and Floyd Flair Ferrell. Cantrell, the secretary-treasurer, is licensed for conducting the trading of commodities by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a “national licensing organization.”

When appellant opened his account, Sal-cedo was an agent for Delta Commodities Corporation (“Delta”), of Lombard, Illinois. Cantrell explained that when a trader came to Salcedo’s office to trade in commodities, Salcedo would telephone the trader’s order to Delta, who had “people on the floor” at the Chicago Board of Trade, where the order would be executed.

Anyone wishing to trade in commodities through Salcedo was required to complete an application and sign a risk disclosure statement acknowledging that commodities trading is a “risky venture.” The applicant was also required to deposit “margin” funds with Salcedo. Cantrell testified that the market is constantly moving, thus a trader can sustain a financial loss if he buys a commodity that thereafter drops in price. Such losses are entered on the trader’s account at the end of each day. If there is a gain, the profit is likewise entered on the account.

At the time appellant opened his account, Salcedo was financially responsible to Delta for all business done through Salcedo. Thus, if a trader at Salcedo sustained losses exceeding the amount of his margin deposit, Salcedo had to stand good to Delta for the deficit. Such a circumstance was characterized as a “debit situation.”

After opening his account and making the required margin deposit, appellant began trading through Salcedo. At the close of business on Tuesday, October 12, 1982, Salcedo’s records showed appellant’s account was in a $3,046.25 debit situation, meaning “that he had used up all of his margin money and had gone beyond that to the extent of $3,046.25.” Cantrell tried to contact appellant, but he was out of town. *794 Cantrell discussed the situation with Anderson and Ferrell, and they decided to wait until the next day to see whether they heard from appellant.

The following day, October 13, appellant phoned Cantrell “to check on his position,” and Cantrell advised appellant of the debit. Appellant, who was “out of state showing some land,” promised to come in on Friday, October 15, and “settle up.” Cantrell, Anderson and Ferrell agreed, and appellant was permitted to continue trading through Salcedo on October 13 and 14.

Appellant appeared at Salcedo’s office on the morning of October 15. By then, his debit had swollen to $5,760.25. A discussion between appellant and Cantrell resulted in an agreement that appellant could trade through the day, and he would settle up with Salcedo when the day’s trading closed.

Appellant “traded quite a bit,” but his fortunes continued to decline, and when the market closed appellant was “down $7,642.”

Cantrell asked appellant for a check, and appellant wrote one for $10,000 against a checking account he maintained at Scott City Bank & Trust Company under the name “McMikle Real Estate.” Appellant dated the check October 15, 1982, made it payable to himself, and wrote “Loan margin” on it. He then endorsed the check on the reverse side and handed it to Cantrell.

Asked why the amount of the check exceeded appellant’s debit, Cantrell responded that appellant wanted to continue to trade in commodities through Salcedo, and the excess was for margin.

After appellant departed, Cantrell, Anderson and Ferrell decided to send the check for “direct deposit” instead of waiting for it to clear through normal banking channels. According to Cantrell, the market could go against appellant the following Monday, October 18, which “would put us deeper in debt, so we wanted to know where we stood.”

Salcedo had a checking account for Delta at Mercantile Bank in Sikeston. Anderson took the check to Mercantile Bank the afternoon appellant wrote it (October 15), and instructed a teller, Janie Freeman, to “send it for collection and have it paid on sight.” Ms. Freeman sent the check to the drawee by registered mail the same day.

On Monday, October 18, 1982, appellant “did some trading” through Salcedo. According to Cantrell, “[W]e thought his account was good.” This belief was based on the assumption that the check would be paid upon presentment.

Appellant’s check reached Scott City Bank & Trust Company that same day (October 18), and was dishonored, as the balance in the McMikle Real Estate account was only $3,767.57. The balance had been $3,797.23 on October 15, the day the check was written. Scott City Bank & Trust Company marked the check “Insufficient Funds,” and returned it to Mercantile Bank by mail.

Ms. Freeman received the check back at Mercantile on Tuesday morning, October 19. She promptly telephoned Salcedo’s office and told Cantrell.

While Cantrell was talking to Ms. Freeman, appellant phoned Salcedo’s office, and Anderson answered the call.

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Bluebook (online)
673 S.W.2d 791, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4643, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mcmikle-moctapp-1984.