United States v. Selage

175 F. Supp. 439, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2961
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Dakota
DecidedJuly 31, 1959
DocketCr. No. 3732
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 175 F. Supp. 439 (United States v. Selage) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Dakota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Selage, 175 F. Supp. 439, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2961 (D.S.D. 1959).

Opinion

MICKELSON, Chief Judge.

The defendants were indicted on three counts. Count I charged them with willfully and unlawfully, on a designated date, purloining, knowingly converting to their own use, and without authority selling and conveying and disposing of a thing of value of the United States, to-wit: Four white-faced calves assigned to the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, in violation of Sec. 641 of Title 18 U.S.C.A. Counts II and III of the indictment make essentially the same charge as Count I, but relate to the purloining, converting and selling of other calves on different dates.

The defendant Paul Three Stars entered a plea of guilty as to all three counts on June 13, 1959, and the case proceeded against the defendant Nicholas Selage as the sole defendant. The defendant Selage entered a plea of not guilty. Before trial the defendant moved to dismiss the indictment, or in the alternative for a bill of particulars setting forth whether the government intended to prove that the defendant purloined the property charged in each count, or whether the government intended to prove that the defendant converted the same to his own use without the actual purloining, or whether the government intended to prove that the defendant sold the property and conveyed it without authority. The court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss, but required the government to furnish a bill of particulars, as requested. The defendant was then tried by jury and found guilty as to each count of the indictment.

The case is now before the court on motions by the defendant Nicholas Selage (1) for judgment of acquittal notwithstanding the verdict, or in the alternative to vacate and set aside the verdict and grant a new trial, and (2) in arrest of judgment.

The defendant now urges as grounds for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and in arrest of judgment the following :

1. Each count in the indictment is duplicitous;

2. The evidence is insufficient to indicate a commission of any crime, or that the defendant committed the crime as charged;

3. Venue was improperly laid in that the evidence indicated the act of selling the calves in question took place in Nebraska, outside the confines of this judicial district;

4. The government failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed each separate act of the separate crimes charged in the indictment;

5. The indictment and the separate counts thereof do not state facts sufficient to constitute offenses against the United States; and

6. That the court is without jurisdiction.

The defendant urges several additional grounds in support of his alternative mo[441]*441tion for a new trial, which can be condensed as follows:

1. The court erred in instructing the jury by refusing to give certain requested instructions, and in granting certain instructions requested by the government;

2. The government improperly sought to impeach its own witness; and

3. The jury was not instructed regarding, and made no finding of value of the calves in Counts I and II of the indictment.

The defendant alleges that charging in one count purloining, knowingly converting to one’s own use, and selling without authority government property, •constitutes duplicity in violation of Rule 8(a) F.R.Crim.P., 18 U.S.C. The defendant contends “purloining”, “converting”, and “without authority, selling”, constitute three separate offenses requiring separate proof, which duplicitous pleading prejudices him in his defense.

The government contends that each count charges the defendant with a single continuous offense; i. e., wrongfully •depriving the government of its property, and that “purloining”, “converting”, and “without authority, selling”, are but methods of committing the offense charged.

The defendant was indicted under 18 U.S.C. § 641, which provides:

“Whoever embezzles, steals, purloins, or knowingly converts to his use or the use of another, or without aithority, sells, conveys or disposes of any .record, voucher, money, or thing of value of the United States or of any department or agency thereof, or any property made or being made under contract for the United States or any department or agency thereof; * * *.
“Shall be fined not more than $10,-000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; but if the value of such property does not exceed the sum of $100, he shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.”

A thorough study of the cases cited by the parties and cases discovered through our own research, fails to reveal precedent squarely in point with the instant issue of duplicity. We must, therefore, reason from analogy, keeping in mind legislative intent in adopting the particular wording of 18 U.S.C. § 641.

In Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246, 72 S.Ct. 240, 251, 96 L.Ed. 288, the Supreme Court was primarily concerned with the issue of “criminal intent”. However, considerable insight into the legislative history of 18 U.S.C. § 641 was brought to light in the decision. The Court said, in reference to Sec. 641, “We find no other purpose * * * than to collect from scattered sources crimes so kindred as to belong in one category”. The Court said further:

“It is not surprising if there is considerable overlapping in the embezzlement, stealing, purloining and knowing conversion grouped in this statute. What has concerned codifiers of the larceny-type offense is that gaps or crevices have separated particular crimes of this general class and guilty men have escaped through the breaches. The books contain a surfeit of cases drawing fine distinctions between slightly different circumstances under which one may obtain wrongful advantages from another’s property. The codifiers wanted to reach all such circumstances.”

The defendant contends that Morissette supports his position. He argues that the language quoted above describes four separate and distinct crimes, and that a joinder of two or more of these crimes in one count is duplicitous. We do not agree with this reasoning. In Morissette, the Court was not concerned with “duplicity”, and as a mere historical note it stated that purloining, stealing, and conversion, were larceny-type offenses representing “cir[442]*442cumstances under which one may obtain wrongful advantages from another’s property”. To this we would add unauthorized selling as constituting yet another such “circumstance”. We agree with the government that the above named circumstances, individually or in combination, are mere methods of committing one offense; i. e., wrongfully depriving the government of its property, such offense being in violation of 18 U. S.C. § 641.

Rule 14, F.R.Crim.P., provides:

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Bluebook (online)
175 F. Supp. 439, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2961, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-selage-sdd-1959.