State v. Swartz

683 P.2d 315, 140 Ariz. 516
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJune 19, 1984
Docket2 CA-CR 3094-3
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 683 P.2d 315 (State v. Swartz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Swartz, 683 P.2d 315, 140 Ariz. 516 (Ark. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

HATHAWAY, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of two counts of theft of property valued in excess of $100, a class four felony, and sentenced to the presumptive term of six years’ imprisonment. He was also sentenced to two additional years in prison pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-604(M) for committing these felonies while on post-conviction release for another crime, bringing appellant’s total sentence to eight years’ imprisonment.

Appellant opened a business checking account with the First Interstate Bank in October 1981. The initial deposit was $50. The account was open until April 22, 1982, during which time many deposits were made and checks written on the account. A review of the evidence demonstrates that appellant maintained a positive balance in *518 his account at the time the account statements were issued for the months of October, November and February. The December 1981 account statement revealed a negative balance of $320.96. The January statement indicated a negative balance of $45.18. The bank apparently paid the overdrafts written by appellant, charging him a fee for the extra processing involved, but did not move to close the account until April 22, 1982. At no time was a so-called bank guarantee card issued for this account.

On March 28, 1982, during a temporary post-conviction release in another case, appellant wrote three checks. At the time, his bank balance was $5.49. One check was made payable to J.C. Penney’s for $252.27, for which appellant received three suits. The other two checks were made payable to Montgomery Ward in the amount of $106 and $85.23, respectively, for which appellant received three suits and several shirts. At no time between the date the checks were written and the date the account was closed did appellant attempt to deposit sufficient funds in his account to cover the checks. Neither Penney's nor Montgomery Ward ever collected the funds represented by the checks. Appellant was indicted for two counts of theft over $100.

Appellant first challenges the trial judge’s refusal to grant a mistrial when the prosecutor argued:

“The second thing Mr. Roylston said was we are not going to deny that he wrote those checks. You can’t deny that he wrote those checks. We have all this evidence that he wrote the checks. He can’t get in front of you and say that. You would never believe anything else that he said. They have to admit to you that they wrote all the checks.
I am going to finish up here with a few comments. First, there is no evidence of a mistake. The evidence comes from the witness stand and from the exhibits that are in evidence.”

Appellant made his motion for mistrial after the jury left the courtroom for deliberation and was therefore untimely. Moreover, although the syntax and the argument is garbled, it is plainly directed at defense counsel’s argument and does not point the finger at appellant’s failure to testify. State v. Moreno, 26 Ariz.App. 178, 547 P.2d 30 (1976); State v. Salazar, 27 Ariz.App. 620, 557 P.2d 552 (1976).

Appellant next challenges the verdict itself, contending that there was insufficient evidence from which a jury could find that appellant obtained property in return for the bad checks, that the property allegedly received exceeded $100 in value and that appellant had the requisite intent to commit the crime.

The state offered testimony from the Ward’s and Penney’s employees in charge of investigating and collecting bad checks regarding the merchandise appellant received. Both witnesses testified that information written on the checks by the sales clerks assisted them in tracking the property given to appellant in exchange for the checks. At Ward’s a transaction number on the check referred to a sales receipt which, the witness testified, indicated that appellant received two suits and several shirts in exchange for the check.

Appellant argues that this evidence was insufficient to establish that he received property and that the state was obligated to introduce the sales receipts or the items of clothing into evidence. We disagree. The signature on each check was identified as belonging to appellant by expert testimony. The checks were drawn on appellant’s account, and circumstantial evidence established that the author of each check received goods in exchange for each check. The parties stipulated that, as to the goods purchased at Ward’s, the mark-up of those goods was 32%, permitting the reasonable inference that the goods received from Ward’s were worth more than $100.

In addition, uncontradicted testimony established that appellant received monthly statements regarding his account balance and that, at the time appellant wrote the checks in question, he had almost no money *519 to cover them. Circumstantial evidence in this case provided the jury sufficient evidence from which to find appellant guilty of theft. State v. Tison, 129 Ariz. 546, 633 P.2d 355 (1981); State v. Edgar, 126 Ariz. 206, 613 P.2d 1262.(1980).

The state also met its burden regarding the value of the property received. The purchase price for the items was established by introduction of the checks reflecting the amount paid and by the testimony of the stores’ investigators. This is sufficient evidence of the fair market value of the merchandise sold. State v. Sorrell, 95 Ariz. 220, 388 P.2d 429 (1964); see State v. Jones, 104 Ariz. 14, 448 P.2d 70 (1968).

Appellant next argues that the trial judge erred when he failed to instruct the jury regarding the determination of value. Since he never properly objected to the lack of such an instruction, the objection is waived unless there is fundamental error. Rule 21.3(c), Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S.; State v. Bravo, 131 Ariz. 168, 639 P.2d 358 (App.1981). We find no fundamental error here for two reasons. First, there appears to be little question arising from the record that the value of the goods taken exceeded $100 in both instances. Even without considering the mark-up on the purchases from Montgomery Ward, the $100 threshhold was established. Second, the dollar limits separating the various theft offenses as enunciated in A.R.S. § 13-1802(C) exist only to determine the level of punishment and are not part of the elements of the crime. State v. Brokaw, 134 Ariz. 532, 658 P.2d 185 (App. 1982).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
683 P.2d 315, 140 Ariz. 516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-swartz-arizctapp-1984.