United States v. Sahley

526 F.2d 913, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 12962
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided February 6, 1976·No. No. 74-3991·Published·Cited by 39 cases

Opinion

SIMPSON, Circuit Judge:

Lloyd W. Sahley was tried before a jury on a seven count indictment, each count of which charged that he made a material false financial statement to a federally insured bank, for the purpose of influencing the action of the bank to approve a loan submitted by him, in violation of Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1014.1 [915] He was found guilty on three counts, Counts Four, Five and Seven, and acquitted as to Counts One, Two and Three. Count Six was dropped by the government. He was adjudged guilty and sentenced to one year in prison for each of the counts upon which he was convicted, the sentences to run consecutively. On this timely appeal from that judgment of guilty, we affirm the conviction, but vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.

The evidence shows that on July 16, 1973, Sahley, representing himself to be “William George”, met with George Hardesty, the senior vice president of the Merchant’s National Bank, Mobile, Alabama, to obtain a loan to purchase the Town House Motel in Mobile. Mr. Hardesty had Mr. “George” fill out a personal financial statement prior to approval of the loan. All the charges here involved were based on that financial statement. In the financial statement Sahley asserted, inter alia, that he: was not a defendant in any suits or legal actions (Count Four), had investments in Laurels County Country Club in Monticello, New York, worth $640,000 (Count Five), and that his name was William George (Count Seven). Mr. Hardesty granted appellant a loan for $78,000. Sahley defaulted on payments under the loan in May, 1974. The information included in the financial statement was discovered to be false, and Sahley was indicted for these falsifications.

Sahley’s appeal raises two major points of error. He first contends that the financial statement was improperly received in evidence, because the subpoena directed to the bank for its production issued without probable cause and was an “unreasonable search” for Fourth Amendment exclusionary purposes. His second contention is that the denial of his attorney’s motion for a continuance violated his constitutional right to a fair trial inasmuch as he was forced to trial without sufficient time for preparation of his case. We conclude that neither point warrants reversal.

Additionally Sahley attacks the sentences imposed of one year on each of the three counts under which he was convicted, to run consecutively. He argues that the imposition of the consecutive sentences based on a single false document impermissibly constituted multiple punishment for one crime. Agreeing, we vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.

I. The Financial Statement.

With reference to the claim that error occurred in the admission in evidence of the financial statement on which the charges were based, the argument is on two inter-related levels. Appellant urges (1) that the grand jury subpoena was invalid, as issued without probable cause; and (2) that primarily because of the illegal subpoena, the introduction of the statement in evidence was an illegal search, and a violation of appellant’s Fourth, and perhaps Fifth Amendment rights.

Appellant’s basic premise — that a subpoena may issue from a grand jury only for probable cause — is without legal foundation. The grand jury is an investigative body, and the mandate under which it operates is broad indeed. See United States v. Bisceglia, 1975, 420 U.S. 141, 146-147, 95 S.Ct. 915, 919, 43 L.Ed.2d 88, 93-94. The grand jury’s investigation is directed at determining whether probable cause for criminal charges exists. In the course of this determination that body must work with something less than probable cause. See Blair v. United States, 1919, 250 U.S. 273, 39 S.Ct. 468, 63 L.Ed. 979. Mere [916] suspicion that a crime is being committed is sufficient reason for a grand jury to issue a subpoena. Indeed, a desire simply to assure itself a crime is not being committed will suffice. Bisceglia, supra, 420 U.S. at 148-149, 95 S.Ct. at 920, 43 L.Ed.2d at 94-95.

We refrain from reiteration of the holdings of numerous cases that a bank customer has no standing to challenge a subpoena from IRS directed to a bank for production of its records of dealings with him. See, e. g., Harris v. United States, 9 Cir. 1969, 413 F.2d 316; Galbraith v. United States, 10 Cir. 1968, 387 F.2d 617; O’Donnell v. Sullivan, 1 Cir. 1966, 364 F.2d 43, cert. denied 385 U.S. 969, 87 S.Ct. 501, 17 L.Ed.2d 433. “We decided long ago that an Internal Revenue summons directed to a third-party bank was not a violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of either the bank or the person under investigation by the taxing authorities”, (citations omitted) California Bankers Association v. Shultz, 1974, 416 U.S. 21, 53, 94 S.Ct. 1494, 1513, 39 L.Ed.2d 812, 835. Grand jury subpoena powers in this situation may be analogized to those of the IRS. United States v. Bisceglia, supra, 420 U.S. at 141, 95 S.Ct. at 915, 43 L.Ed.2d at 88.

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United States v. Sahley, 526 F.2d 913, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 12962 (5th Cir. 1976).

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