United States v. Goodman

110 F.2d 390, 1940 U.S. App. LEXIS 4965
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedFebruary 15, 1940
DocketNo. 6903
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 110 F.2d 390 (United States v. Goodman) 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. Goodman, 110 F.2d 390, 1940 U.S. App. LEXIS 4965 (7th Cir. 1940).

Opinion

TREANOR, Circuit Judge.

Defendant was prosecuted upon an indictment consisting of four counts charging the defendant with aiding and abetting a bank cashier in the misapplication of funds of a bank which was insured under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.1 The [392]*392defendant was found guilty on two counts and judgment of sentence and commitment was entered thereoni From such judgment defendant prosecutes this appeal.

The defendant urges the following three grounds for reversal of the judgment of the District Court: (1) The indictment is insufficient in law to sustain the conviction. (2) The evidence of the defendant’s method of establishing a false and fictitious credit on the books of the insured bank was inadmissible under the indictment. (3) Certain remarks of the United States Attorney were such as ' to deprive the defendant of a fair and impartial trial.

It is defendant’s contention that the language of the indictment does not sufficiently describe “an unlawful and wilful misapplication” of the “moneys, funds and credits” of the insured bank. The particular transactions which, under the allegations of the indictment, effectuated the misapplication of moneys, funds and credits of . the bank consisted of the cashing of checks drawn'by Irving’s Tractor'Lug Company payable to Elmwood Auto Wrecking Company, when the amount of the checks was “in excess of all sums of money which said Irving’s Tractor Lug Company was then entitled to draw out of the moneys, funds and credits of said ‘The Bank’, that is to say, (when) the said Irving’s Tractor Lug Company was * * * entitled" to draw out of the moneys, funds and credits of said ‘The Bank’ no money whatsoever.” It was further alleged that as a result of the foregoing transactions the cashier, Claude E. Frankenburger, “was enabled to and did convert to the use, benefit and advantage of said Irving’s Tractor Lug Company, Elmwood Auto Wrecking Company and Irving Goodman” the amount of the different checks. It was also alleged that the cashier knew that the sum of the different checks was “in excess of all sums of money which said Irving’s Tractor Lug Company was then entitled to draw out of said moneys, funds and credits of said ‘The Bank;’ ” and it was further alleged that the amount “of said moneys, funds and credits of said ‘The Bank’ was lost” to the bank.

Defendant’s argument centers entirely around the use of the word “entitled” and the gist of his argument is that the words “entitled to” are ambiguous and do not 'sufficiently describe “an unlawful and wilful misapplication.” For' the purpose of developing his argument defendant suggests different situations under which Irving’s Tractor Lug Company woúld not have been “entitled to draw” funds from the bank, and yet, an actual withdrawal under such situations would not constitute a wilful misapplication within the meaning of the statute defining the crime charged. Defendant cites and relies upon United States v. Britton 2 for the proposition that “where an indictment employs language which can be held to embrace both a legal and an illegal act, it must be held that it has not charged an offense.” The discussion of the Supreme Court, which is of pertinency to the present question, was directed to certain counts of an indictment which charged that the defendant wilfully misapplied moneys of a banking ássociation “with intent to injure and defraud the association and certain persons to the grand jurors unknown,” by using funds of the association to purchase shares of its capital stock; the counts in question containing the further allegation that the stock, so purchased, was held by the defendant in trust for the use of the association. The Supreme Court stated that the wilful misapplication which was made an offense by the statute in question meant a “misapplication for the use or benefit of the party charged, or of some person or company, other than the association;” and that to constitute the offense of wilful misapplication there had to be a conversion of the association’s funds by the defendant to his own use or to the use of someone else; and the court pointed out that the foregoing essential element of the offense not only was not averred in the counts but was negatived by the averment that the shares purchased by the defendant were held by him in trust for the use of the association. The court concluded that since there was no averment of a conversion “by the defendant to his own use or the use of any other person of the funds used in the purchase of the shares” the counts charged “mal-administration of the affairs of the bank, rather than criminal misapplication of its funds.” It appears to be a necessary inference from the Supreme Court’s discussion that the counts would have been held good if they had contained an allegation that the wilful misapplication had been made for the use of the defendant or some other person. [393]*393The counts of the indictment before us allege a wilful misapplication “for the use, benefit and advantage of Irving’s Tractor Lug Company, a corporation, Elmwood Auto Wrecking Co., a corporation, and one Irving Goodman,” defendant-appellant, who is charged with aiding and abetting the wilful misapplication by the cashier of the bank.

The Supreme Court stated in the opinion in the Britton case that the words “wilfully misapplied” do not “of themselves fully and clearly set forth every element of the offense charged.” That would be true of the use of the words 'in the instant case. But the Supreme Court further stated, in clarifying its thought, that “it would not be sufficient simply to aver that the defendant 'wilfully misapplied’ the funds of the associationthat “there must be averments to show how the application was made and that it was an unlawful one.” In the instant case, however, the allegations of the complaint clearly show “how the application was made and that it was an unlawful one.” *

The elements of the offense are adequately defined by the allegations in each count that the cashier of the bank unlawfully, wilfully, etc., and with intent to injure and defraud the bank, wilfully misapplied the moneys, funds and credits of the bank by payment of the check drawn upon the bank by the Irving’s Tractor Lug Company when the amount paid out was in excess of all sums of money which the drawer was then entitled to draw, and when the drawer was entitled to draw out of the moneys, funds and credits of the bank no money whatsoever, with the result that the cashier “was enabled to and did convert” the amount of each check “to the use, benefit and advantage” of the drawer and payee of the check and of defendant-appellant.3

In Cochran & Sayre v. United States4 the Supreme Court stated that the true test of the sufficiency of an indictment is “not whether it might possibly have been made more certain, but whether it contains every element of the offense intended to be charged, and sufficiently apprises the defendant of what he must be prepared to meet, and, in case any other proceedings are taken against him for a similar offense, whether the record shows with accuracy to what extent he may plead a former acquittal or conviction.”

We are satisfied that the allegations of the counts of the indictment before us fully satisfy the foregoing test and we hold that the trial court committed no error in overruling defendant’s motion to quash.

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Bluebook (online)
110 F.2d 390, 1940 U.S. App. LEXIS 4965, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-goodman-ca7-1940.