Commonwealth v. May
Commonwealth v. May
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The defendant was convicted under an indictment which charged that, by falsely pretending and representing he was a part owner of certain real estate in the City of New Castle and a partner in the business conducted therein, he cheated and defrauded the prosecutor of certain valuable personal property. More than once in the course of the general charge, as well as in the answers to the points presented on behalf of the defendant, the learned trial judge correctly and clearly explained to the jury the nature of the offense charged and the essential ingredients necessarily entering into it. The jury were
The testimony just referred to tended to prove the defendant came to the farm of the prosecutor situate about six miles from the City of New Castle. He was an entire stranger. He represented he and his partner Blum were the owners of certain real property in the city which they had purchased from one McKee; that the said partnership conducted a butcher’s business in that property; that he was of good financial standing and' able and willing to pay for what he bought. Belying on these representations, the prosecutor sold to him two cows for the price of ninety dollars. The defendant paid two dollars on account of the purchase-money and stated he would send for the cows the following week and at that time would pay or cause to be paid the balance due. At about the date named two young men appeared, and one of them stated they had come for the cattle which his father had bought. In payment of the balance of the purchase-price they tendered him a check on a bank in New Castle signed in the name of May & Blum and took the cattle away. The prosecutor, accepting as true the statement made by the defendant, did not present the check for payment until about two weeks after he received it and payment was then refused because of lack of funds. Whether the check tendered and accepted was signed before the parties met on the day the cows were delivered or at the farm, was unimportant in determining the question of the guilt or innocence of defendant. A careful examination of the entire charge of the learned trial judge convinces us it was sound in its exposition of the legal principles involved and free from any error that could be harmful to the defendant. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth assignments of error complaining of various portions of the said charge are overruled.
For the purpose of establishing support for the contention of the defendant, the learned trial judge permitted him to offer in evidence, as part of the testimony of the bank cashier, a statement of the daily balances shown by the account of May & Blum in the bank on which the check was drawn. He refused, however, the offer of a number of paid checks during the period in controversy for the reason that such checks had no evidential value and did not tend to establish, at least by the best evidence, the fact sought to be proven. This was manifestly true. Daily deposits of small sums might warrant the payment of a number of checks and yet leave .unproven the main question in controversy. The statement of the daily balances referred to was the best evidence on the subject and the defendant could not have been harmed by the rejection of the offer of the paid checks. The second assignment is overruled.
The judgment is affirmed and the record remitted to the court below with direction to have the sentence carried into execution.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.