State v. Weary

479 S.E.2d 28, 124 N.C. App. 754, 1996 N.C. App. LEXIS 1298
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedDecember 17, 1996
DocketCOA96-199
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 479 S.E.2d 28 (State v. Weary) 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. Weary, 479 S.E.2d 28, 124 N.C. App. 754, 1996 N.C. App. LEXIS 1298 (N.C. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

WYNN, Judge.

The State charged defendant Karen Best Weary with obtaining property by false pretense and corporate malfeasance. At her trial, the evidence tended to show the following:

Defendant performed phlebotomy services as an independent contractor for Genetic Design, Inc., from 1989 through 1993. In September 1990, Genetic Design sent her to the Mecklenburg County Child Support Enforcement Agency to draw blood from Larry Melton, a putative father under court order to submit to a blood test to determine whether he was the father of a child bom to Sheila Fleming. While preparing him for the procedure, defendant suggested to Melton that she could prevent him from being found as the father in exchange for $500. Melton agreed and defendant left the agency without drawing his blood.

Instead, defendant approached two young black males on the street and paid one of them $30 for three vials of his blood. She then wrote Melton’s name on all three vials of blood and sealed them in a specimen kit along with a Client Authorization Form signed by Melton. This form contained Melton’s vital information and defendant’s certification that Melton was the person from whom she drew the blood. Defendant delivered the kit to Genetic Design. The blood specimens that were purported to be Melton’s were tested and excluded him as the father. However, upon retesting in 1993, Melton was statistically determined to be the father of Ms. Fleming’s child.

*757 Defendant was charged with obtaining property by false pretense and corporate malfeasance in violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-254 (1993) in that she “did unlawfully, Wilfully, and feloniously as the agent and contract employee of a corporation, Genetic Design, Inc., make a false entry in a report of the corporation . . . to-wit: a Client Authorization Form, with the intent to injure, defraud and deceive a person, to-wit: Sheila Fleming and Genetic Design, Inc.” Contrary to her pleas, a jury returned verdicts of guilty as charged. After consolidating the offenses for judgment and finding that the aggravating factors outweighed the sole mitigating factor, the court suspended a ten year sentence given to defendant and placed her on five years supervised probation to commence after she served a term of six months. Defendant appeals.

I.

Defendant first assigns error to the trial court’s denial of her motion to. dismiss the charge of corporate malfeasance on the grounds that the State failed to meet its burden of proving that (1) she was an “agent” of Genetic Design and (2) she intended to injure, defraud or deceive Ms. Fleming or Genetic Design. We disagree on both counts.

We note at the outset that a motion to dismiss requires the trial court to consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, giving the State the benefit of every reasonable inference which can be drawn from the evidence. State v. Brown, 315 N.C. 40, 58, 337 S.E.2d 808, 827 (1985).

Defendant contends that since she was hired as an “independent contractor,” she was not an “agent” of Genetic Design as contemplated by N.C.G.S. § 14-254. We disagree. An agent is defined as one who acts for or in place of another by authority of such other. Trust Co. v. Creasy, 301 N.C. 44, 56, 269 S.E.2d 117, 124 (1980). In the instant case, defendant had an employment contract with Genetic Design that included a salary, a traveling allowance and a description of her duties as a phlebotomist. She worked for the corporation for approximately four years. Furthermore, Genetic Design had a contract with Mecklenburg County Child Support Enforcement Agency to perform phlebotomy services and it sent defendant to the agency’s headquarters on its behalf. On these facts, defendant clearly was acting as the corporation’s “agent,” regardless of what her official title might have been.

*758 Defendant’s next contention is that there was insufficient evidence to show that her false entry on the Client Authorization Form was intended to injure, defraud or deceive any person. We again disagree with the defendant.

Direct proof of fraudulent intent is not necessary, it being sufficient if facts and circumstances are shown from which it may be inferred. State v. McLean, 209 N.C. 38, 40, 182 S.E. 700, 702 (1935). In the instant case, defendant’s signature on the Client Authorization Form was her certification that the person in the photograph and whose thumb print was affixed to the form was in fact the person from whom she drew blood. It was more than reasonable to infer that defendant’s entry on the form was made with (1) the intent to deceive Genetic Design into believing that the blood was taken from Larry Melton and (2) the intent to injure and defraud Sheila Fleming out of the child support due from Melton. Thus, we conclude that the trial court properly denied defendant’s motion to dismiss the charge of corporate malfeasance.

II.

Defendant next objects to the trial court’s finding as factors in aggravation that she (1) took advantage of a position of trust or confidence to commit the offense and (2) induced others to participate in the commission of one or both of the charged offenses. We note at the outset that defendant failed to include Form AOC-CR-303, Felony Judgment Findings of Factors in Aggravation and Mitigation of Punishment, in the record on appeal. This is significant because the State notes in its brief that the record is unclear as to whether the trial court actually found that defendant took advantage of a position of trust or instead that she was hired to commit the crimes. Therefore, we dismiss defendant’s first objection for failure to include a necessary part of the record on appeal. See N.C.R. App. P. 9(a)(3)(g); State v. McMillian, 101 N.C. App. 425, 399 S.E.2d 410, disc. review denied, 328 N.C. 335, 402 S.E.2d 842 (1991). However, we will address defendant’s final assignment of error because the parties have stipulated that the trial court did find as a factor in aggravation that she induced others to participate in the commission of her crimes.

At the sentencing hearing, the State’s evidence indicated that it relied on the theory that defendant had induced Melton to participate in the commission of the crimes. Defendant, however, notes that the trial court stated the following: “I find as aggravating factors that you *759 induced others to participate in the commission of the crimes, specifically the two young men from whom you secured the blood to submit.” Defendant contends that the trial court’s finding that she induced the young male to participate in the crime was in error because there was no evidence that the young man was aware of the intended use of the blood that he donated. For the following reason, we conclude that defendant’s claim is without merit.

In State v. Lattimore, 310 N.C. 295, 311 S.E.2d 876

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Bluebook (online)
479 S.E.2d 28, 124 N.C. App. 754, 1996 N.C. App. LEXIS 1298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-weary-ncctapp-1996.