People v. Rosenberg
| Decision Date | 03 January 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 27764,27764 |
| Citation | 572 P.2d 1211,194 Colo. 423 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Albert J. ROSENBERG and John R. Burke, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
J. D. MacFarlane, Atty. Gen., David W. Robbins, Deputy Atty. Gen., Edward G. Donovan, Sol. Gen., J. Stephen Phillips, Chief, Crim. Appeals, App. Section, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for plaintiff-appellee.
Brenman, Sobol, Baum, Zerobnick, Epstein, Zuckerman & Lutz, P. C., Leo T. Zuckerman, Moshe Luber, Denver, for defendants-appellants.
In a trial to the court, Albert J. Rosenberg and John R. Burke were convicted of criminal extortion, section 18-3-207, C.R.S.1973 (1976 Supp.), and conspiracy to commit criminal extortion, section 18-2-201, C.R.S.1973 (1976 Supp.), and seek reversal and dismissal on appeal. We affirm.
Rosenberg was known by the nickname of "Casey" and operated a Denver bar and restaurant known as Casey's Palace. Burke was a bartender at Casey's Palace. Dean Vanek participated in a blackjack game at Casey's Palace and issued a series of checks to cover his losses. The charges against Rosenberg and Burke were filed after Vanek stopped payment on the checks and threats were made in an attempt to collect the amounts evidenced by the checks.
Vanek, over a period of several months, entered into various gaming transactions at Casey's Palace and lost between three and four thousand dollars. While playing blackjack on the night of February 6, 1976, he lost approximately $800. To cover his losses, he issued personal checks two of which were in the amounts of $100 and $220. The record shows that the practice at Casey's Palace was to have the checks issued in blank so that the checks could be negotiated among the players. However, before Vanek left at 8:30 on the morning of February 7, Casey Rosenberg's wife cashed the check for $220, and Vanek paid his gambling debts. When Vanek left Casey's Palace, he was told that the games were fixed. He thereafter caused a stop-payment order to be issued on the checks which he had written in the course of a night of gambling.
Rosenberg's wife cashed the $220 check at Majestic Savings & Loan where she maintained a trust account for her child. Vanek, by coincidence, was an employee of Majestic Savings & Loan. As a result of the stop-payment order, Casey's wife's account was debited $220, representing the check on which Vanek had stopped payment. Payment was also stopped on the $100 check which was cashed by another employee of Casey's Palace.
When Rosenberg learned of the stop-payment order, both he and Burke went to see Vanek's superior on February 20. They indicated at the meeting that if the checks were not honored there might be trouble both for Vanek and the bank. On the same day, Rosenberg telephoned Vanek and told him that if he didn't make good on the checks he would never have to worry about anything for the rest of his life. On the following Monday, Burke appeared at Vanek's office to discuss the bad checks. He told Vanek that At the same time, Burke obtained Vanek's home address from a temporary permit that was on Vanek's automobile and gave the address to Rosenberg.
As a result of the visits, Vanek contacted the Organized Crime Task Force of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 23. Thereafter, a series of telephone conversations between Rosenberg and Vanek were recorded by agents of the CBI. During the trial, the telephone calls which were recorded and transcribed were admitted into evidence. The tenor of the calls was that if Vanek did not pay the money represented by the checks, he would have to answer to Geno, who was a strong-arm collector.
On March 5, 1976, Rosenberg and Richard M. Haverly went to Vanek's apartment. They saw Vanek in the apartment and pounded on the door, threatening to break it down if Vanek did not answer. Their actions were of such a nature that a neighbor summoned the police, and both Rosenberg and Haverly were arrested. Haverly was tried with the appellants and was convicted of extortion and is not before us on appeal.
The appellants first challenge the constitutionality of the criminal extortion statute on the grounds that it is overbroad and vague. Section 18-3-207, C.R.S.1973 (1976 Supp.), provides:
Both the overbreadth and vagueness arguments are directed by the appellants at the statutory provision which proscribes threats to damage the...
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People v. Scearce, No. 01CA1660.
...83 Hawai`i 264, 266-67, 925 P.2d 1088, 1090-91 (1996)(recognizing trend rejecting claim of right defense); cf. People v. Rosenberg, 194 Colo. 423, 427, 572 P.2d 1211, 1213 (1978)(rejecting claim that efforts to collect a legally enforceable debt fall outside the scope of the criminal extort......
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People v. Fuller
...evidence because a conclusion different from that reached by the jury might be reached on the same evidence. People v. Rosenberg, 194 Colo. 423, 427, 572 P.2d 1211, 1214 (1978). The prosecution in this case presented evidence that the store clerk was taken from the store by Fuller at night ......
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People v. Hodges
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People v. Laurent
...lacks standing to assert overbreadth of the statute based on a provision under which he was not charged. See People v. Rosenberg, 194 Colo. 423, 426, 572 P.2d 1211, 1213 (1978) (where same section of statute proscribed several different types of conduct, defendant lacked standing to assert ......