United States v. Giulio Bruni

359 F.2d 802
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedApril 27, 1966
Docket15176
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 359 F.2d 802 (United States v. Giulio Bruni) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Giulio Bruni, 359 F.2d 802 (7th Cir. 1966).

Opinion

ENOCH, Circuit Judge.

The indictment in this case originally consisted of six counts. The first count dealt with conspiracy. It was dismissed prior to trial. Defendant-appellant, Giu-lio Bruni, was charged in Counts 2 and 3 with passing and uttering falsely made and counterfeit $20 Federal Reserve Bank Notes at Lowell and Astico in Dodge County, Wisconsin, on September 13, 1964.

Counts 4, 5 and 6 dealt with charges against a co-defendant, John G. Johnson, who after being granted a separate trial, pleaded guilty and testified for the government at Dr. Bruni’s trial.

The jury found Dr. Bruni guilty. His motion for a new trial was denied. He was sentenced to serve five years and to pay a fine of $5,000 on each count, the sentences to run concurrently, making a total sentence of five years and a total fine of $10,000. This appeal followed.

Defendant asserts that the government failed to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, particularly with regard to the element of intent and guilty knowledge; that the Trial Judge committed prejudicial errors in admission and exclusion of certain evidence, in denying his motion for acquittal at the close of all the evidence, and in making prejudicial remarks within the hearing of the jury. He contends that his conviction was based on false identifications by alleged victim-witnesses, and false and perjured testimony by his alleged accomplice, John Johnson, and, further, that the two counterfeit notes which allegedly fell out of a cabinet drawer in his residence were placed there either by the finders, two special agents of the Secret Service, or by John Johnson, who had access to the premises.

Defendant attacks the credibility of the witnesses for the government charging some of them with honest mistakes and others, particularly John Johnson, with deliberate perjury. The jury as trier of the facts determined the issues respecting credibility. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942). Their verdict must be sustained if supported by substantial evidence including reasonable inferences therefrom as viewed in the light most favorable to the government. United States v. Mims, 7 Cir., 1965, 340 F.2d 851, 852, cert. den. 381 U.S. 913, 85 S.Ct. 1535, 14 L.Ed.2d 434; United *804 States v. Armstrong, 7 Cir., 1964, 337 F.2d 1015, 1016, and cases there cited, cert. den. 381 U.S. 905, 85 S.Ct. 1452, 14 L.Ed.2d 287.

At the trial, John Gerdt Johnson testified that he was employed by defendant, Dr. Bruni, and another person, at North-lake Hospital from March to September 1964, as janitor, later working in housekeeping and maintenance. He said that he had formerly been a police officer. At the outset, he admitted conviction of a felony in this case. He said he knew Dr. Bruni for about eight years. He related a detailed conversation with Dr. Bruni about acquiring and passing counterfeit money, and described Dr. Bruni’s purchase of more than $5000 in counterfeit $20 bills, all with the same serial numbers and in various stages of completion, some untrimmed and some not fully printed. He stated that the money obtained from passing these was to be used to buy more counterfeit, samples of which Dr. Bruni showed him.

On September 12, 1964, Johnson said he and defendant, Dr. Bruni, drove from Northlake, Illinois, to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, arriving early September 13, 1964, where they passed a number of counterfeit bills, which were provided by the defendant. He said that coming back from Wisconsin Dells that same day, they made numerous stops in towns along the way where they made various small purchases with counterfeit $20 bills.

Harold William Ring testified that he was tending bar in the Blackhawk Tap, Columbus, Wisconsin, on September 13, 1964, and that he sold Dr. Bruni, a bottle of beer for a $20 bill, giving him $19 and some change in return; that this was the only $20 bill he took in and that there were no $20 bills in the cash register at the start of business. Harold William Ring, Jr., testified that he relieved his father at the bar about 7:00 P.M. and worked until closing time, that he accepted no $20 bills, and that there was only one $20 bill in the day’s receipts.

Herbert Edward Monthie testified that between 8:00 and 8:30 P.M. on September 13, 1964, while he was working as part-time bartender in the Shamrock Tavern in Astico, Wisconsin, he sold two cans of beer to the defendant who paid with a new $20 bill and received $19.30 in change. He testified that he had previously received another $20 bill, old and dilapidated, from a local customer known to him, and that these were the only $20 bills he took in that day. He saw defendant leave the premises with the two cans of beer, get into an automobile and go east on Route 16.

Emma Frank testified that she owned the Shamrock Tavern, that she worked on September 13, 1964, during the periods before and after Mr. Monthie was on duty, that she accepted no $20 bills, and that there were none on hand at the start of business that day.

Maurice Clifford Kuenzi testified that on September 13, 1964, at about 8:30 P.M. he and his wife were sitting in their automobile outside of his tavern, the E. & M. Bar in Lowell, Wisconsin. He saw an automobile containing two men come up the east side of the street heading north and stop. Two men got out. One went toward a restaurant across the street. Mr. Kuenzi followed the other man, who had been sitting on the driver’s side, and whom he identified as the defendant into his Tavern, where defendant tried to buy two cans of beer with a $20 bill which Mr. Kuenzi refused to accept. Defendant said he had no change and left. Mr. Kuenzi followed the defendant and saw him enter and then leave Tuf-fie’s Bar about 150 feet north on the same side of the street, and then return to the automobile.

Mrs. Harold Rahn testified that she and her husband operated Tuffie’s Bar, about half a block from the Kuenzi Tavern in Lowell, Wisconsin, that she was tending bar there about 8:30 P.M. on September 13, 1964; that there were no $20 bills in the cash register; and that she sold defendant two cans of beer for 55 cents, giving him change for a $20 bill which was the only $20 bill taken in that day. Mr. Rahn was present at the time. At the trial, he also identified defendant *805 as the purchaser who paid for two cans of beer with a $20 bill.

Roger Kreitzman testified that he was part-time Chief of Police at Lowell; that after a conversation with Mr. Kuenzi, he stopped a late model Chrysler Imperial on the outskirts of Lowell. He said that the automobile bore an Illinois license plate beginning “LB”; that the defendant was driving; that there was another man in the car; and that the defendant showed a driver’s license and identification as an Illinois physician which indicated a first initial “G”. He allowed the car to go on.

Typical of defendant’s attack on the credibility of the evidence is his comment that allegedly knowing of Mr.

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359 F.2d 802, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-giulio-bruni-ca7-1966.