Goetz v. United States, 4732.
| Decision Date | 15 July 1932 |
| Docket Number | No. 4732.,4732. |
| Parties | GOETZ v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Harry G. Hershenson, of Chicago, Ill. (Daniel V. Gallery, of Chicago, Ill., of counsel), for appellant.
George E. Q. Johnson, U. S. Atty., and Joseph A. Struett, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of Chicago, Ill.
Before ALSCHULER, EVANS, and SPARKS, Circuit Judges.
Appellant was charged by indictment of three counts with violating the Bankruptcy Act, § 29b (1, 2, 8), 30 Stat. 554, as amended by Act May 27, 1926, § 11, 44 Stat. 665 (11 USCA § 52(b) (1, 2, 8). The first count charged concealment of property from the trustee in bankruptcy; the second charged the making of a false oath in relation to the bankruptcy proceeding; and the third charged withholding from the trustee certain books, documents, and papers belonging to the bankrupt estate. He was convicted by a jury and sentenced to imprisonment on each count, the sentences to run concurrently.
Appellant, after plea of not guilty, filed a motion for a bill of particulars, which was denied, and he took no exception to the ruling. He filed no demurrer or motion to dismiss, but after verdict filed a motion in arrest and also a motion for a new trial, which motions were overruled. He made no specific objection to the instructions, but objected generally to them. The only objections now urged by him are that each count of the indictment is defective on account of insufficiency of facts, and that certain of the court's instructions are erroneous.
It is quite clear that the only question presented for our consideration is whether any count of the indictment is sufficient to withstand the motion in arrest of judgment, for a general objection to instructions avails appellant nothing.
Appellant insists that the first count of the indictment is insufficient because it charges concealment of his equitable interest in various tracts of real estate acquired by him prior to filing his voluntary petition in bankruptcy, which interest was held in the name of another for appellant's benefit. The basis of this contention is that an equitable interest in real estate is not a subject of concealment. Appellant cites in support of this contention Gretsch v. United States (C. C. A.) 231 F. 57, and Rachmil v. United States (C. C. A.) 43 F.(2d) 878; but that contention was not raised in either case cited. We think the statute in this respect is sufficiently broad to render any property of the bankrupt subject to concealment, and, if there be an improper choice of words to express the charge, the error, if any, is one of form rather than of substance, and it cannot be raised for the first time by a motion in arrest of judgment. The first count also charges the concealment of money, contracts, deeds, and notes, and this is sufficient to render the count valid as against appellant's objection, although the concealment of money may not have been proven.
Appellant further contends...
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United States v. Marachowsky, 10540
...that there is a legal difference between the crime of a false oath in bankruptcy proceedings and perjury. This Court, in Goetz v. U. S., 59 F.2d 511, 512, in reviewing a conviction under the earlier provision of the Bankruptcy Act, similar in all ways to the present one, said: "Appellant se......
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Finley v. United States
...reason, it was sufficient to withstand the motion in arrest of judgment. Finn v. United States, 4 Cir., 256 F.2d 304; Goetz v. United States, 7 Cir., 59 F.2d 511; Gibson v. United States, 9 Cir., 31 F.2d The other ground, that the offense, if any, was not committed in the district is as cle......
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United States v. Lynch
...F. 443. But this court has held that proof of false oath in bankruptcy need not contain all of the elements of perjury, Goetz v. United States, 7 Cir., 59 F.2d 511, 512, and if defendant's report was knowingly false at the time he made it, the crime charged had been completed, United States......
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U.S. v. Moynagh
...to list that interest could support the charge. See United States v. Schireson, 116 F.2d 881, 883 (3d Cir. 1940); Goetz v. United States, 59 F.2d 511, 512 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 287 U.S. 649, 53 S.Ct. 95, 77 L.Ed. 561 (1932). See also Duggins v. Heffron, 128 F.2d 546, 548 (9th Cir. We co......