State v. Minton

734 S.E.2d 608, 223 N.C. App. 319, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 1249
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedNovember 6, 2012
DocketNo. COA12-243
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 734 S.E.2d 608 (State v. Minton) 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. Minton, 734 S.E.2d 608, 223 N.C. App. 319, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 1249 (N.C. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

HUNTER,' Robert C., Judge.

Defendant Jonathan Minton appeals from judgment entered against him after a jury found him guilty of ten counts of conversion of property by bailee in violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-168.1. On appeal, defendant argues that the trial court erred by: (1) denying defendant’s motion to dismiss; and (2) ordering defendant to pay $5000 in restitution. After careful review, we find no error.

[320]*320Background

Defendant was indicted for ten counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and ten counts of conversion of property by bailee (“conversion”). The cases were joined for trial.

The evidence at trial tended to establish the following: In 2005, defendant agreed to buy real property from Harold and Teresa Cantrell (collectively “the Cantrells” or, individually, “Mr. Cantrell” or “Ms. Cantrell”) in Wilkes County. Under the terms of their agreement, defendant would pay the Cantrells $1000 per month for a total of 80 months. Once defendant paid them $75,000, the Cantrells would deed the property to him. The parties all signed a promissory note setting forth the details of this agreement. The property was a tract of land that included two trailers, a barn, and two chicken houses. Ms. Cantrell, who keeps the books on the property, testified that defendant paid a total of $35,000, but he has not made a monthly payment since July 2008.

In 2005, defendant approached Ed Center (“Mr. Center”) to see if he was interested in paying half of the monthly payment. Mr. Center contended that he had a verbal agreement with defendant to pay half of the monthly payment in order to eventually share ownership of the land. However, defendant alleged that they only had a rental agreement whereby Mr. Center would rent one of the trailers on the property, and they never had an agreement to share ownership. Mr. Center testified that he began making monthly payments to defendant in 2005; however, he does not have any receipts for those payments.

Sometime in August 2009, Mr. Center claimed that defendant told him that he had not made a payment to Mr. Cantrell in nine months. In September 2009, after defendant told him they could avoid eviction by paying Mr. Cantrell $5000, Mr. Center gave defendant a certified check in the amount of $2500 to give Mr. Cantrell. The check was dated 29 September 2009.

At the end of the State’s evidence, defendant made a motion to dismiss all charges. The trial court dismissed the ten counts of obtaining property by false pretenses because the State presented no evidence other than defendant’s failure to comply with his contractual obligation to establish his intent to defraud. However, the trial court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss the ten counts of conversion.

The trial court instructed the jury that the ten counts of conversion were based on the ten alleged acts of conversion defendant com[321]*321mitted each month, when Mr. Center paid him $500, from August 2008 to May 2009. The jury found defendant guilty of all ten counts.

Defendant was sentenced to six to eight months, but the trial court suspended his sentence and placed defendant on 36 months of supervised probation. At sentencing, the State requested the trial court order defendant to pay $5000 in restitution based on the ten payments of $500 from Mr. Center, which defendant was convicted of converting. The trial court granted the State’s request and ordered defendant to pay Mr. Center $5000 restitution.

Arguments

Defendant first argues that the trial court erred by not granting defendant’s motion to dismiss the conversion charges because the State failed to present substantial evidence that defendant possessed the necessary intent to defraud. Specifically, defendant contends that the only evidence the State offered to establish intent was defendant’s failure to comply with an alleged contractual obligation. Since N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-100(b) specifically states that evidence of nonfulfillment of a contract obligation, standing alone, does not establish the requisite intent to sustain an obtaining property by false pretenses charge, defendant argues that nonfulfillment of a contract obligation is not, or should not be, enough to establish the requisite intent for a conversion charge. We do not agree.

“This Court reviews the trial court’s denial of a motion to dismiss de novo.” State v. Smith, 186 N.C. App. 57, 62, 650 S.E.2d 29, 33 (2007). “Upon defendant’s motion for dismissal, the question for the Court is whether there is substantial evidence (1) of each essential element of the offense charged, or of a lesser offense included therein, and (2) of defendant’s being the perpetrator of such offense. If so, the motion is properly denied.” State v. Fritsch, 351 N.C. 373, 378, 526 S.E.2d 451, 455, cert. denied, 531 U.S. 890, 148 L. Ed. 2d 150 (2000) (quoting State v. Powell, 299 N.C. 95, 98, 261 S.E.2d 114, 117 (1980)). “Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” State v. Smith, 300 N.C. 71, 78, 265 S.E.2d 164, 169 (1980).

Pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-168.1 (2011),

[e]very person entrusted with any property as bailee . . . who fraudulently converts the same ... to his own use, or secretes it with a fraudulent intent to convert it to his own use, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. If, however, the value of the [322]*322property converted ... is in excess of four hundred dollars ($400.00), every person so converting or secreting it is guilty of a Class H felony.

Bailment is defined as the “delivery of personal property by one person (the bailor) to another (the bailee) who holds the property for a certain purpose, usu. [sic] under an express or implied-in-fact contract.” Black’s Law Dictionary 163 (9th ed. 2009). Intent to defraud, as in cases of embezzlement, may be established by direct evidence or inferences from the facts and circumstances. See generally State v. McLean, 209 N.C. 38, 40, 182 S.E. 700, 701-02 (noting that for purposes of embezzlement, fraudulent intent “may be shown by direct evidence, or by evidence of facts and circumstances from which it may reasonably be inferred”).

Here, defendant’s argument is based on his contention that because “[e]vidence of nonfulfillment of a contract obligation” is not enough to establish intent for an obtaining property by false pretenses charge, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-100(b), this evidence should not be sufficient to establish the requisite intent to defraud for a conversion charge. While the legislature decided to specifically include that limitation in the obtaining property by false pretenses statute, it chose to not include it in the conversion statute. If we were to accept defendant’s argument, we would have to rewrite the statute, not interpret it, to include that limitation, and we are without constitutional authority to do so. See N.C. Const. art. I, § 6 (2011) (noting that the powers of the legislative, judiciary, and executive branches of government are “separate and distinct”); News and Observer Pub. Co. v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
734 S.E.2d 608, 223 N.C. App. 319, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 1249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-minton-ncctapp-2012.