State v. Scott

390 P.2d 328, 237 Or. 390, 1964 Ore. LEXIS 319
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 18, 1964
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 390 P.2d 328 (State v. Scott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Scott, 390 P.2d 328, 237 Or. 390, 1964 Ore. LEXIS 319 (Or. 1964).

Opinion

DENECKE, J.

The defendant was tried and convicted under the following indictment:'

“HOLLIS D. SCOTT, also known as TED SCOTT is accused by the Grand Jury of Washington County by this indictment of the crime of ob *392 taining money by false pretenses committed as follows.
“That the said defendant Hollis D. Scott, also known as Ted Scott, on the 17th day of September A.D. 1962, in the said County of Washington, State of Oregon, then and there being did then and there unlawfully and feloniously, with intent to injure and defraud, falsely pretend to Myrtle Elliott that he, the said Hollis D. Scott, also known as Ted Scott, had on deposit with the Hillsboro Commercial Branch of the United States National Bank of Portland, at Hillsboro, Oregon, subject to check, the sum of $36.93 and that a certain bank cheek drawn on said bank for said sum of money, dated September 17, 1962, signed by him and then and there delivered by him to the said Myrtle Elliott was a good and valid check for said sum of money, by means of which false pretenses and fraudulent check the said defendant did then and there unlawfully and feloniously obtain from the said Myrtle Elliott the sum of $37.13, money of the United States of America, the property of the said Myrtle Elliott, who was then and there induced by the said false pretenses to accept said bank check and to pay therefor the sum of $37.13, whereas, in truth and fact, the said defendant did not then and there have on deposit in the said bank subject to check the said sum of money, but did have in said bank an account without any money subject to check, and the said bank cheek was neither good nor valid, but was void and worthless, all of which he, the said defendant, then and there well knew, said act of defendant being contrary to the statutes in such cases made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State of Oregon.”

The indictment charges that the defendant issued a check upon an account having insufficient funds to cover such check and that the defendant knew of such insufficiency at the time the cheek was issued. All *393 concerned have treated the proceeding as a prosecution for obtaining money by false pretenses. ORS 165.205. 1 However, the decision in Broome v. Gladden, 231 Or 502, 373 P2d 611 (1962), specifically holds that when a check is dishonored for insufficient funds in an existing account, rather than for the reason that the drawer has no account, the offense is a violation of ORS 165.225, 2 the worthless check statute, rather than ORS 165.205, the obtaining money by false pretenses statute. 3

Broome v. Gladden, supra (231 Or at 505), decided:

if# # * y\re construe ORS 165.205 and ORS 165.225 as defining mutually exclusive crimes. ORS 165.225 applies only where the accused has, prior to presenting the check, established an account in the bank upon which the check is drawn. Where no debtor-creditor relationship exists between the ac *394 cused and the drawee bank the drawer may be prosecuted under OES 165.205 but not under OES 165.225. Cf., State v. Wittman, 85 Ariz 292, 337 P2d 280 (1959).”

The distinction is important here. The check was for $37.13. The defendant was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary. Such a sentence is authorized by the false pretenses statute, as such statute provides for a maximum sentence of five years, regardless of the amount of the check. However, a three-year sentence is not authorized by the worthless check statute for passing a $37.13 check. The latter statute provides that one convicted thereunder “ * * * shall be punished * * * [i]f the amount of such check does not exceed $75, by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not to exceed $1,000, or both. * * *”

This improper sentence is not assigned as error in appellant’s brief. However, under Eule 46 of this court’s rules of procedure, we can and do take notice of it as an error apparent on the face of the record. The case must be remanded for resentencing on this ground alone.

Defendant contends it was error for the trial court to find the defendant guilty because “the evidence of * * * intent and knowledge was insufficient.” The case was tried before the court alone. Under the worthless check statute, as well as the false pretenses statute, the defendant must be found to have had an intent to defraud. Therefore, the inquiry as to whether there was evidence of intent is still relevant.

It is conceded that defendant’s account was overdrawn at the time he issued the check upon which the present charge is based, and the bank refused to honor *395 the check for that reason. The worthless cheek statute provides: “As against the person making * * * a check, * * * payment of which is refused by the drawee because the maker * * * has insufficient funds in, or credit with, such drawee, such refusal by the drawee is prima facie evidence of the intent of the person making # * * such check * * * to defraud, and of his knowledge of the insufficiency of funds in, or credit with, such bank or other depository.” An instruction embodying the above-quoted statute was approved in State v. Robinson, 120 Or 508, 516, 252 P 951 (1927).

The defendant did not testify, and there was no evidence which remotely could be considered to rebut, as a matter of law, the prima facie case of intent and knowledge established by proof that the account had insufficient funds. This contention of defendant that the evidence was insufficient is not well founded.

The receipt into evidence, over defendant’s objection, of an exhibit prepared by the bank and recording the history of the last month of the account is asserted to be error. The exhibit was offered after it had been identified by the bank’s witness who prepared it. Upon defendant’s objection that it was hearsay, the trial court reserved ruling on the admission of the exhibit. On cross-examination, the bank’s witness was asked about various entries on the exhibit, such as the balance at the beginning of the month. At the close of the state’s case the trial court admitted the exhibit stating, “I am going to allow the introduction of this sheet, Mr. Huffman [defendant’s attorney]. You asked a question on it.”

The trial court was correct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
390 P.2d 328, 237 Or. 390, 1964 Ore. LEXIS 319, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-scott-or-1964.