McCaffrey v. United States
| Decision Date | 01 March 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 8604.,8604. |
| Citation | 372 F.2d 482 |
| Parties | Joseph Thomas McCAFFREY, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
George J. Francis and Frances DeLost, Denver, Colo., for appellant.
Lawrence M. Henry, U. S. Atty., Denver, Colo., for appellee.
Before LEWIS and ALDRICH, Circuit Judges, and STANLEY, District Judge.
Appellant was convicted of possession of a certificate purporting to be a Selective Service Registration Certificate, known by him to have been falsely made. The indictment clearly charges violation of the fifth clause of 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 462(b), which makes it an offense for any person to possess "any certificate purporting to be a certificate issued pursuant to the Universal Military Training and Service Act * * * which he knows to be falsely made * *."
Appellant testified in his own behalf at his trial. He admitted that on the date charged he had in his possession the registration certificate which was introduced in evidence as government's Exhibit 1; that he had purchased it from one Chilly for five dollars; that Chilly had made it up in his presence; and that he himself had signed the name "Joe Scott" in the place provided for the signature of the registrant.
Government's Exhibit 1 purports to be a registration certificate, SSS Form No. 2, issued by Local Board No. 10, Jefferson County, Colorado, certifying that one Joseph Thomas Scott was duly registered November 22, 1961. It bore the number XX-XX-XX-XXX, and the signature of "Lois Maxton" as clerk of the local board. The Deputy State Director of Selective Service testified that the number shown on Exhibit 1 would not appear on a certificate regularly issued by a Colorado board; that Local Board No. 10 had not had a clerk named Lois Maxton since enactment of the 1948 Selective Service Act; that the printed matter on the face of the exhibit conformed to that on certificates regularly issued by Colorado boards; and that a search of his records revealed no registrant named Joseph Thomas Scott.
Thus it was established that appellant had Exhibit 1 in his possession and that he knew the material inserted in the blank spaces on the exhibit had been placed thereon by persons other than those authorized to complete the form. If then, Exhibit 1 was in fact "a certificate purporting to be a certificate issued pursuant to" the Selective Service Act, violation of § 462(b) was established.
Appellant argues that it is the false making of the form that is the basis of the offense, "not the filling in of spaces on a genuine form," and since there was no proof that the blank form was not genuine the government failed to prove violation of § 462(b). This argument is unsound.
Exhibit 1, before its blank spaces were filled in by Mr. Chilly and appellant, was not a certificate. It did not even purport to be a certificate until the blank spaces were filled in and a signature purporting to be that of the clerk was affixed. A certificate is a document which serves as evidence or as written testimony of status. (See Random House Dictionary).
As was said by the Eighth Circuit in referring to a statute making it unlawful to use any false certificate of citizenship, "(a) certificate which is false in respect of those facts which alone would justify its issuance is as much within the mischief of ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Smith
...v. Cianchetti, 315 F.2d 584, 591 (2 Cir. 1963). See also United States v. Hensley, 374 F.2d 341 (6 Cir. 1967); McCaffrey v. United States, 372 F.2d 482 (10 Cir. 1967). The attendance of a stenographer at a grand jury proceeding in the federal courts is permissive rather than mandatory. Unit......
-
United States v. Rodgers
...Wyatt v. United States, 10 Cir., 388 F.2d 395 (1968); Thompson v. United States, 10 Cir., 381 F.2d 664 (1967); McCaffrey v. United States, 10 Cir., 372 F.2d 482 (1967), cert. denied, 387 U.S. 945, 87 S.Ct. 2078, 18 L.Ed.2d 1332; Campbell v. United States, 10 Cir., 368 F.2d 521 (1966). It is......
-
United States v. Aloisio
...v. Franklin, 429 F.2d 274, 276 (8th Cir. 1970); United States v. Ybarra, 430 F.2d 1230, 1233 (9th Cir. 1970); McCaffrey v. United States, 372 F.2d 482, 484 (10th Cir. 1967), certiorari denied, 387 U.S. 945, 87 S.Ct. 2078, 18 L.Ed.2d 1332.1 While we agree that the preservation of grand jury ......
-
State v. Levesque
...patterned, has been so construed by the federal authorities. United States v. Caruso, 1966, 2d Cir., 358 F.2d 184; McCaffrey v. United States, 1967, 10th Cir., 372 F.2d 482; Jack v. United States, 1969, 9th Cir., 409 F.2d 522. See, however, Rule 16(a), M.R.Crim.P., as amended December 1, 19......