State v. Boyd
State v. Boyd
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The appellant, T. B. Boyd, was state treasurer. He and Ronald Finney were jointly charged in two counts with the violation of R. S. 75-2415. Upon his separate trial he was found guilty and sentenced, as that statute provides, and he has appealed.
The state treasurer, in addition to other duties imposed by law, is the fiscal agent of the state. All bonds issued by the state, or any county, township, school district, or municipality of the state, are payable at his office, and he is liable on his official bond for all funds coming into his hands on account of such agency. (R. S. 10-501 et seq.) Other moneys, or funds, aggregating large amounts, are in his possession, or custody, as state treasurer. Provision is made by statute (R. S. 75-2401 et seq.) for the deposits of state funds in banks. Shortly stated, so far as here pertinent, these statutes provide that the board of treasury examiners^ consisting of the governor, secretary of state and state auditor, shall meet on the first Monday of July of each odd-numbered year and prepare and cause to be published a notice that on a date stated they will receive sealed proposals from banks doing business in Kansas for the deposit therewith of public funds of the state, the proposals to be deposited with the state treasurer and opened by the board on the date stated in the notice. From the banks making such proposals the board designates certain of them as state depositories, in accordance with certain rules and limitations provided by statute, and designates the accounts so deposited as active or inactive accounts. Each bank so designated as a depository, as security for such deposit and for the faithful performance of its duties as such depository, and before any of the state funds shall be deposited, with it, shall deposit with the state treasurer bonds of the United States, of the state of Kansas, or of some county, school district, or munic
“The making of profit by the state treasurer out of any moneys in the state treasury, the custody of -which the state treasurer shall be charged with, by loaning, depositing, or otherwise using, or disposing of the same in any manner whatsoever not provided in this act, or the removal by the state treasurer, or by his consent, of any bonds deposited by any bank under the provisions of this act out of the vaults of the treasury, or failing to return or dispose of said bonds according to law, shall be deemed a felony, and on conviction thereof subject him to punishment by imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of not less than two or more than five years, and he shall also be liable, under and upon his official bond, for all profits realized from such unlawful using of said funds; and it. shall be the duty of the attorney-general to enter and prosecute to final termination all suits for a violation of any of the provisions of this act.”
The first count of the information (omitting the formal opening and closing) charged:
“. . . that T. B. Boyd, the duly elected, qualified and acting treasurer of the state of Kansas, at the county of Shawnee, in the state of Kansas aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction of this court, on the — day of July, a. d. 1933, did unlawfully, feloniously and willfully remove and by his consent allow to be removed out of the vaults of the treasury of the state of Kansas refunding bonds of the city of Eureka, Kan., numbered one to twenty, inclusive, of the face amount of one thousand dollars ($1,000) each, and bearing interest at the rate of four and three-fourths per centum per annum; condemnation bonds of the city of Kansas City, Kan., numbered eighty-eight, one hundred fifteen to one hundred nineteen, inclusive, and one hundred twenty-five to one hundred twenty-eight, inclusive, of the face amount of one thousand ($1,000) each, and bearing interest at the rate of four and three-fourths per centum per annum; bonds of rural high-school district No. 5, Brown county, Kansas, numbered twenty-seven and twenty-nine, of the face amount of one thousand dollars ($1,000) each, and bearing interest at the rate of four and three-fourths per centum per annum; all of the face amount of thirty-two thousand dollars ($32,000), deposited therein by the Eureka bank, a banking corporation of*626 Eureka, Kan., under the provisions of chapter 75, article 24, Revised Statutes of Kansas of 1&23, and Ronald Finney did then and there unlawfully, feloniously and willfully counsel, aid and abet the said T. B. Boyd in such removal, . . .”
The second count of the information was similar to the first, but related to other bonds of similar character of the face amount of $118,600, and alleged that the crime charged in this count was another and different crime from that charged in the first count.
The record shows no substantial controversy concerning the material facts, which may be stated as follows: The appellant, T. B. Boyd, was the duly elected, qualified and acting state treasurer of Kansas, serving his third term as such. The Eureka bank was a state bank at Eureka. Howard B. Tucker was its president and his son, Edwin Tucker, its vice president. It had been a state depository for several years. The Fidelity State & Savings Bank was a state bank of Emporia. Its president was W. W. Finney, a brother-in-law to Howard B. Tucker. These banks had accounts with each other, and each of them had an account with the National Bank of Topeka, which also was a state depository. Ronald Finney is the son of W. W. Finney. He appears not to have resided in Topeka, but for several months prior to the incident which gave rise to this prosecution he had rooms at one of the hotels at Topeka, where he transacted a variety of businesses on a large scale. Among other things he had numerous and large transactions on the Chicago Board of Trade, and he dealt extensively in municipal bonds. Many of these proved to be forgeries. (See State v. Finney, 139 Kan. 578, 32 P. 2d 517.) He transacted business with several state officers and exerted himself to be agreeable with them. He and the appellant, T. B. Boyd, became very friendly. Boyd visited his offices in the hotel and Ronald Finney was a frequent visitor at the office of the state treasurer, who accommodated Finney on a number of occasions by cashing his checks and holding them for a few or several days. On one occasion Ronald Finney had the brokerage firm with whom he transacted business at Chicago wire Boyd $500, and on another occasion $700. There is no explanation in the evidence as to what these payments were for. On one occasion Ronald Finney paid the wife of T. B. Boyd $2,500, and on another occasion $3,500. There is testimony that Ronald Finney represented these to be profits from Board of Trade dealings conducted by Ronald Finney with $1,200 originally advanced to him for that purpose by T. B.
Ronald Finney then called Edwin Tucker and asked him to come to Topeka, which he did on June 30, and met Finney in his room at the hotel. There Ronald Finney said he had arranged an additional deposit of state funds for the Eureka bank, and told Tucker to go to the state treasurer’s office where he would be given a check for the additional deposit. Tucker went to that office and the assistant state treasurer gave him a check for $150,000 of state funds, drawn on the National Bank of Topeka, payable to the Eureka bank. Tucker returned to Ronald Finney’s room at the hotel with the check and there remonstrated because of the amount, which he thought was too large for a small bank to use profitably. While they were discussing that matter W. W. Finney came into the room. Tucker was then informed that Ronald Finney and W. W. Finney desired to discuss a business proposition, was asked to withdraw from the room, but to be about the lobby of the hotel where they could call him later. Without detailing the evidence on the point it is sufficient to say that this check of $150,000 was so used as to take from the National Bank of Topeka the bonds Ronald Finney desired to remove therefrom and so that the bonds became the property of the Eureka bank. Bonds of the face amount of $136,600 were deposited with the state treasurer that evening after regular business hours, and the usual temporary receipt executed by the state treasurer for them the next day, July 1, 1933. The remaining $14,000 of the bonds were deposited with the state treasurer on July 8, 1933, and a temporary receipt issued for them. These bonds were deposited with the state treasurer by the Eureka bank to
The material facts, as above stated, were not controverted. They show, of course, two clear violations of the statute (R. S. 75-2415) above quoted.
Turning now to the questions argued. Complaint is made that the court refused a continuance applied for. The warrant for defendant’s arrest in this case was issued September 28, 1933. In due time he was bound over to the district court and an information filed. A motion to quash the information was argued and sustained January 9, 1934. The state was given permission to file an amended information, which it did at once, and the case was set for trial January 15, 1934. Defendant then moved for a continuance, supporting the motion solely by the affidavit of his counsel. This motion and affidavit set out that the so-called “bond scandal” was discovered about August 9, 1933; that defendant’s counsel had represented him from that date; that much publicity was given to the matter by the newspapers throughout the state, including newspapers at the state capital, in which county the action was to be tried; that as a part of the result of the so-called bond scandal two state officers had been impeached by the house of representatives and their impeachment trials were set for hearing in January before the state senate, which action caused much more general discussion and newspaper comment. It was further contended defendant did not have time sufficiently to consider the amended information. There is no showing that any of these matters affected defendant to his detriment. We find no error in the court’s ruling.
Defendant’s motion to quash the amended information was overruled. Complaint is made of that ruling: (1) Because the infor
After the court overruled the motion to quash the amended information defendant moved that the state be required to furnish a bill of particulars: (1) By setting out the date of issue and date of expiration of each of the bonds mentioned in each count. Why that information would have been of any special benefit to defendant is not disclosed. (2) By stating the name of the person allowed to remove the bonds. That was sufficiently stated. It was not error to deny this motion.
Complaint is made that the court admitted the testimony of the witness Bernice Long. The facts concerning that are as follows: When the prosecuting officials first learned of the issuance of the check, June 29, 1933, by the state treasurer to the Eureka bank for $150,000, and how that was handled to enable Ronald Finney to get from the National Bank of Topeka the bonds in question, details of which, as shown by the record in this case, have not been stated in full in this opinion, and perhaps at the time were not fully known to the prosecuting officers, the first action taken with reference to the state treasurer was to cause him to be arrested on a warrant issued August 14, 1933, charging him with the embezzlement of $150,000 of the moneys of the state. A preliminary hearing was held September 9, 1933, on the warrant issued on that complaint. At this hearing Bernice Long was a witness called by the prosecution. She testified in substance that at the time in question, and for several years prior thereto, she was an employee in the office of the state treasurer, it being her duty to file and take care of the bonds deposited by banks for the deposits of state moneys; that when such bonds were first brought to the state treasurer’s office" a temporary receipt for them was issued; they were then presented to the attorney-general for his opinion as to their validity, and if he said they were valid a permanent receipt was issued; that she made out the temporary receipt'of July 1, 1933, to the Eureka bank for $136,600 of bonds, and another receipt on July
Complaint is made that the court did not give instructions requested. These instructions embodied the same legal questions raised by the motion to quash the amended information and presented defendant’s view of the law pertaining to those questions. We previously have determined defendant’s views of the law were not well grounded. It is not necessary to restate them here.
Defendant requested an instruction on intent, to the effect that it must be shown the bonds were removed with a bad or wrongful intent on the part of defendant. The only intent necessary to be proved was the intent to remove the bonds from the vaults of the state treasury. That is the thing made an offense by the statute (R. S. 75-2415). The state was not called upon to prove what motive lay back of that. The requested instruction was properly refused.
Defendant moved the court for an instruction discharging him on the-first count of the information on the grounds that under chapter 162 of the Laws of 1933 depository banks were, required to deposit bonds for only seventy per cent of the state deposit instead of one hundred per cent of such deposit; that the statute is not definite as to how bonds should be drawn from the state treasury by a depository bank when it has bonds so deposited in excess of the amount required by law; and that when $32,000 of bonds were withdrawn there was left to secure the deposit of $150,000 of state funds bonds in the amount of $118,600, which is more than seventy per cent of
Some complaint is made of instructions given. We have examined these complaints and find them not to be well founded. The instructions given fairly presented the law of the case to the jury.
Complaint is made that the court overruled the motion for a new trial. In so far as that raised questions previously determined herein nothing more need to be said. It is contended that there was misconduct of counsel for the state in the closing argument to the jury, and some language is set out which, standing alone, seems objectionable. However, we were told in the oral argument in this court that this language was used answering the same point argued by counsel for the defendant. That statement was not denied. There is no showing in this record that the statement was not correct. Certainly an attorney cannot argue a matter from his viewpoint and then complain that counsel on the other side also argues it from his
Defendant did not testify. His wife and son were called as witnesses in his behalf and gave testimony. Counsel for the state in the argument to the jury commented on the testimony of the wife and son. Appellant contends this was an indirect reference to the fact that defendant did not testify, in violation of R. S. 62-1420. It cannot be so construed. Counsel had the right to comment fairly on testimony which was in fact given.
We find no error in the record. The judgment of the court below is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The State of Kansas v. T. B. Boyd
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- Published