Jacobs v. United States
| Citation | 31 F.2d 568 |
| Decision Date | 15 March 1929 |
| Docket Number | No. 5207.,5207. |
| Parties | JACOBS v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) |
John J. Sterling, of Benton Harbor, Mich., for appellant.
E. J. Bowman and L. H. Grettenberger, both of Grand Rapids, Mich., for the United States.
Before DENISON, MOORMAN, and KNAPPEN, Circuit Judges.
Appellant was convicted of perjury and sentenced to the penitentiary. The false statement which he was alleged to have made was that he and his partner, Adelberg, had sold and transferred a certain land contract to Adelberg's niece, Gussie Greenberg, on September 5, 1925. It was admitted at the trial that he made the statement under oath at a hearing in bankruptcy, and that it was material to the matters there under investigation. The defense was that the statement was true. The main contention here is that there was not sufficient evidence to the contrary to submit the case to the jury.
The government introduced no witnesses who testified directly to the falsity of the statement. It relied upon the character of evidence referred to in United States v. Wood, 14 Pet. 430, 10 L. Ed. 527, cited with approval in Hammer v. United States, 271 U. S. 620, 46 S. Ct. 603, 70 L. Ed. 1118. Appellant introduced in evidence two assignments to Greenberg, both written by appellant, dated September 5, and signed by the parties. The government contended that those assignments were gotten up by appellant much later than September 5, and within four months of the adjudication in bankruptcy, for the purpose of preventing this property from passing into the hands of his trustee in bankruptcy. There was an adequate factual basis for such an inference in the proofs. The jury accepted that inference, as it had the right to do, as against evidence which the appellant offered to the contrary. Kahn v. United States (C. C. A.) 214 F. 54; Gordon v. United States (C. C. A.) 5 F.(2d) 943; Sharron v. United States (C. C. A.) 11 F.(2d) 689.
Objection was made to the admission in evidence of a credit statement given by Jacobs and Adelberg to the Butler Bros., in February of 1925. This statement estimated the equity of Jacobs and Adelberg in the Berrien Springs property at $2,000, which was $1,300 more than the alleged consideration received from Greenberg several months later, when the equity had been increased by interim payments. This estimate was undoubtedly pertinent as tending to show that there was not a transfer of the contract on September...
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United States v. Nessanbaum, 10940.
...statement was inferentially contradicted by a business document furnished by the defendant to a third person. Jacobs v. United States, 6 Cir., 1929, 31 F.2d 568; cf. Smith v. United States, 6 Cir., 1948, 169 F.2d 118. The Jacobs case relied squarely upon the Wood Coming now to the applicati......
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Smith v. United States, 10570.
...requires like action here. For illustrative cases in which this court has sustained convictions of perjury, see: Jacobs v. United States, 6 Cir., 31 F.2d 568; Laughters v. United States, 6 Cir., 155 F. 2d 29; Kahn v. United States, 6 Cir., 20 F. 2d It is, of course, for the court to determi......