State v. Reber

977 S.W.2d 934, 1998 Mo. App. LEXIS 1946, 1998 WL 748571
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 28, 1998
DocketNos. 20255, 21482
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 977 S.W.2d 934 (State v. Reber) 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. Reber, 977 S.W.2d 934, 1998 Mo. App. LEXIS 1946, 1998 WL 748571 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

MONTGOMERY, Judge.

On April 21, 1998, this Court issued an opinion in these consolidated appeals which (1) affirmed Defendant’s convictions and (2) dismissed the appeal of the motion court’s ruling on Defendant’s Rule 29.15 motion on the basis that the order did not comply with Rule 74.01(a). On June 16,1998, by order of the Missouri Supreme Court, these consolidated cases were transferred to that Court. On September 22, 1998, the Supreme Court issued an opinion deciding that the “order entered by the motion court is not subject to the requirements of Rule 74.01(a).” The Supreme Court then ordered the consolidated cases retransferred to this Court. The following original opinion of this Court relating [936]*936to appeal 20255 is now readopted and reissued. In appeal 21482, this Court addresses Defendant’s claim that the motion court erroneously denied his Rule 29.15 motion without holding an evidentiary hearing.

A jury found Gregory S. Reber (Defendant) guilty of twelve counts of securities fraud, in violation of § 409.101.1 Each count of the amended information generally alleged that Defendant employed a scheme or artifice to defraud investors regarding fictitious electrical contracting jobs, which Defendant had never obtained, and that Defendant made false statements to investors, thereby inducing them to invest in Defendant’s business operation. The trial court entered judgment on the jury verdict and sentenced Defendant to a total of fifteen years’ imprisonment. He brings appeal 20255 from that judgment.

Thereafter, Defendant filed a motion to vacate the judgment and sentence pursuant to Rule 29.15.2 The motion court denied relief without an evidentiary hearing. Defendant brings appeal 21482 from that order.

We consolidated the appeals, Rule 29.15(Z), but address them separately in this opinion.

APPEAL 20255

Defendant presents one point relied on regarding this appeal. It reads:

The trial court erred in failing to grant [Defendant’s] motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all of the evidence because the court should have found that the State failed to present sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror might have found the Defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in that the evidence failed to show that [Defendant] sold or offered to sell an investment contract as that term is defined pursuant to the Uniform Securities Act because there was no showing that the agreements between [Defendant] and the people who paid him money called for them to participate in a common enterprise or that their expectation of profits depended upon the significant managerial efforts of others since [Defendant] unconditionally promised to repay their investment plus interest.

In ruling on Defendant’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, this Court’s review is limited to determining whether the evidence was sufficient to persuade any reasonable juror as to each of the elements of the crime, beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. O’Brien, 857 S.W.2d 212, 215 (Mo. banc 1993). ' In making that determination, this Court considers all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. Id. at 215-16. “Thus, evidence that supports a finding of guilt is taken as true and all logical inferences that support a finding of guilt and that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence are indulged.” Id. at 216. “Conversely, the evidence and any inferences to be drawn therefrom that do not support a finding of guilt are ignored.” Id.

As to all the investors involved in this ease, except those named in Counts III and IV, the evidence shows there was an exchange of money for a written agreement prepared by Defendant.3 At trial, Defendant readily admitted he made false statements of material facts to his investors in order to obtain money from them. In his brief, Defendant acknowledges that “he made false statements to the victims, to induce them to part with funds.” His narrow claim on appeal is that the State failed to adduce sufficient evidence of an “investment contract” between Defendant and investors.

[937]*937The State chose to prosecute Defendant under the provisions of § 409.101, which reads:

It is unlawful for any person, in connection with the offer, sale or purchase of any security, directly or indirectly
(1) to employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud,
(2) to make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they are made, not misleading, or
(3) to engage in any act, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person.

Section 409.401(2) provides that the term security “means any ... investment contract....” However, we find no statutory definition of an investment contract. Therefore, as Defendant states, the real question in this ease is whether his agreements with the investors constitute an investment contract so as to violate § 409.101.

In State v. Kramer, 804 S.W.2d 845 (Mo.App.1991), the Eastern District of this Court determined that an investment contract is (1) an investment of money, (2) in a common enterprise, (3) with the expectation of profit from the significant managerial efforts of others. Id. at 849. Here, both sides agree that Kramer properly describes an investment contract.

Defendant concedes the State met its burden to show the first element of an investment contract because all the investors advanced money to Defendant believing he would use the funds on his contracted electrical jobs. However, Defendant argues the evidence is insufficient to- show element (2), a common enterprise, and element (3), expectation of profit from Defendant’s managerial efforts. We disagree.

COMMON ENTERPRISE

Although no Missouri appellate court has addressed this issue, other state and federal jurisdictions have done so. We look to those decisions for guidance.

Faced with deciding whether the parties were engaged in a “common enterprise,” the Supreme Court of Oregon in Computer Concepts, Inc. v. Brandt, 310 Or. 706, 801 P.2d 800 (1990), adopted a test for commonality after reviewing other state and federal decisions.4

Federal courts have taken two differing views of what constitutes a common enterprise, “horizontal” and “vertical” commonality. Horizontal commonality requires more than one investor and requires a pooling of investments. Hart v. Pulte Homes of Michigan Corporation, 735 F.2d 1001 (6th Cir.1984); Milnarik v. M-S Commodities, Inc., 457 F.2d 274, 276-77 (7th Cir.), cert den. 409 U.S. 887

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Cutcliff v. Reuter (In Re Reuter)
427 B.R. 727 (W.D. Missouri, 2010)
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186 S.W.3d 889 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
977 S.W.2d 934, 1998 Mo. App. LEXIS 1946, 1998 WL 748571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-reber-moctapp-1998.