Commonwealth v. MacDonald
Commonwealth v. MacDonald
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The defendant was tried before the same jury upon two separate bills of indictment, which, however, charged offenses averred to have been committed in the same transaction; the misdemeanor involved being the
The court having imposed but one sentence, applicable to both indictments, the judgment must be affirmed if the conviction upon either of the indictments was free from error. Thomas Wolstenholme Sons & Co., a corporation, desired to purchase a piece of real estate adjoining their manufacturing establishment, in the City of Philadelphia. The evidence would have warranted a finding that the defendant represented to the officers of the corporation that there would be no trouble about getting a clear title to the property, and undertook to procure it for them. The defendant prepared a written agreement which was executed by the parties. If this agreement were the only evidence in the case it would establish that the transaction was one in which the defendant had merely agreed to sell and the corporation
When the officers of the corporation discovered that MacDonald was not applying to the purchase of the property the thirty-one hundred and seventy-five dollars which they advanced to him, it was their right to then ask him to account and they were not required to pay the balance of thirty-five hundred dollars, and take the chances of his misappropriation of the additional sum. The first specification of error is overruled. It was not material to show that some other party had a good title to the lot of ground in question, unless accompanied by an oifer to show that MacDonald had paid the money to that party, or in some way account for his failure to so pay. The second specification of error is without merit. The conviction upon the second count of the indictment, No. 459, was sufficient to sustain the sentence imposed by the court below, and all the specifications of error are dismissed.
The judgment is affirmed and it is ordered that the defendant appear in the court below at such time as he may be there called and that he be by that court committed until he has complied with the sentence or any part of it which had not been performed at the time the appeal in this case was made a supersedeas.
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- Criminal law — Fraudulent conversion — Agency—Indictments— Act of March'S1,1860, P. L. 882 — Act of May 18,1917, P. L. 241. Where a defendant is tried before the same jury upon two separate bills of indictment involving the same transaction, the first, under the Act of March 31, 1860, P. L. 382, for converting and appropriating money of a corporation to his own use while acting as agent, and the second containing two counts, the first of which includes the allegation of agency, and the second, under the Act of May 18, 1917, P. L. 241, merely charging fraudulent conversion ; and a general verdict of guilty on both counts is rendered, the conviction will he sustained. The court having imposed hut one sentence applicable to both indictments, the judgment must he affirmed, if the conviction upon either of the indictments was free from error. Under such circumstances, it was not necessary to determine whether the evidence was such as to constitute the defendant technically the agent of the corporation, within the meaning of the Act of 1860, where there was sufficient evidence to warrant the conviction of the defendant upon the second count of the indictment of the offense defined by the Act of May 18,1917, P. L. 224. Under the latter count it was sufficient to show that the defendant received the money for the purpose of procuring a conveyance to the corporation, and that he fraudulently withheld and applied the same to and for his own use and benefit.