Henderson v. United States

• Decision Date: 01 March 1928
• Docket Number: No. 2675.,2675.
• Citation: 24 F.2d 811
• Parties: HENDERSON v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

24 F.2d 811 (1928)

HENDERSON v. UNITED STATES.

No. 2675.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

March 1, 1928.

Charles L. Abernethy, of New Bern, N. C. (J. H. Davis and Abernethy & Abernethy, all of New Bern, N. C., on the brief), for plaintiff in error.

Irvin B. Tucker, U. S. Atty., of Whiteville, N. C.

Before WADDILL, PARKER, and NORTHCOTT, Circuit Judges.

NORTHCOTT, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff in error, who was the defendant below, and who will be referred to here as the defendant, was charged in the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at New Bern, with violating section 39 of the United States Criminal Code (18 USCA § 91), and was convicted and sentenced to serve a year and a day in the Atlanta penitentiary and fined $200.

The material part of the bill of indictment reads as follows:

"Unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously promise and offer one P. L. Flinchum the sum of $1,800, represented by certificate in possession of defendant, which said defendant offered to cash and turn over to him the money for same, to wit, $1,800 in currency, to the said P. L. Flinchum, the said Flinchum being an officer of the United States, acting for and in behalf of the United States in an official function, and under the authority of the Treasury Department of the government of the United States, to wit, a federal prohibition agent, with intent to influence him, the said Flinchum, and to induce him to act in violation of his lawful duty, by releasing the said John Henderson and the automobile of said John Henderson, to wit, Marmon Club coupé, motor No. erased, license number C-28106, N. J. 1927, serial number 23556, while the said Flinchum, federal prohibition agent as aforesaid, was in the act of arresting said defendant, and searching and seizing his car, above described, for violation of the National Prohibition Act, to wit, for the unlawful possession and transportation of intoxicating liquors," etc.

It appears from the evidence that a federal prohibition officer seized a car in possession of the defendant, and found in it 218 quarts of liquor. Upon the seizure of the car, the prohibition officer informed the defendant that he was a federal prohibition officer, and the defendant then showed the officer a paper, purporting to be a certificate payable by the Western Union Telegraph Company, for $1,800, and stated that he would get it cashed and give the money to the officer, if he, the officer, would let the defendant go free.

A demurrer to the indictment was overruled, and upon trial the defendant was found guilty by the jury. A motion was made in arrest of judgment, on the ground that the verdict was "inconsistent and repugnant" to the evidence, which motion was overruled, and the defendant sentenced.

There are two assignments of error, one based on the court's action in overruling the demurrer to the indictment, and the other upon the action of the court in denying the motion in arrest of judgment.

It is contended on behalf of the defendant that the evidence did not show that the defendant knew that the man arresting him was a prohibition officer, but an examination of the testimony shows that the officer informed the defendant that he was such an officer. There seems to be no good ground for this contention.

It is also contended that the indictment is faulty, in that it does not allege facts sufficient to constitute a crime under the laws of the United States. Our reading of the statute and the indictment leads to the opposite conclusion.

The statute makes it an offense to promise, offer, or give any money or other thing of value to an officer of the United States, or any person acting for or on behalf of the United States in any official function, with intent to...