Reeves v. State

• Decision Date: 07 June 1978
• Docket Number: No. 54672,No. 2,54672,2
• Parties: Sinnie Mae REEVES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 630

566 S.W.2d 630

Sinnie Mae REEVES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 54672.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas,Panel No. 2.

June 7, 1978.

Mike Barclay, Dallas, court appointed, for appellant.

Henry Wade, Dist. Atty., John Tatum, Dan Guthrie and Gerry Holden, Asst. Dist. Attys., Dallas, for the State.

Before ONION, P. J., and DALLY and VOLLERS, JJ.

OPINION

ONION, Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction for welfare fraud. See Article 695c, § 34(2), V.A.C.S. Punishment of one (1) year's imprisonment was assessed by the jury.

The record reflects that appellant was convicted of fraudulently representing on welfare application forms that she was then unemployed, when in fact she was employed as a housekeeper for the Marriott Corporation. Although appellant had applied for both Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), as well as food stamps, her conviction appears to be based on the AFDC applications.

In her first ground of error, appellant argues that the statute under which she was convicted, Article 695c, § 34, supra, violates due process of law by failing to provide notice of what conduct constitutes a criminal offense. The statute reads in pertinent part:

"Sec. 34. Whoever obtains, or attempts to obtain, or aids or abets any person to obtain, by means of a wilfully false statement or representation or by impersonation, or by other fraudulent means:

"(1) Assistance, services, or treatment to which he is not entitled;

"(2) Assistance, services, or treatment greater than that to which he is justly entitled;

"(3) Or, with intent to defraud, aids or abets in buying, or in any way disposing of the property of a recipient of assistance without the consent of the State Department, or whoever violates Section 32 or Section 33 of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined any sum not more than One Hundred Dollars ($100) or be imprisoned for not less than six (6) months, nor more than two (2) years, or be both so fined and imprisoned."

Appellant argues that the statute is unconstitutionally vague and ambiguous in two respects: (1) the statute as written allegedly requires reference to other regulatory material in order to define the amount of aid to which an applicant is entitled; and (2) the phrase "justly entitled" is inherently unclear and is not defined in the statute. Appellant contends that she was not prohibited by the statute from being employed for gain while receiving assistance, rather, it is only when her income exceeds some unspecified level, which she claims is not subject to easy computation, that the activity becomes criminal because the benefits are greater than those to which she is "justly entitled."

As we stated in Ex parte Granviel, 561 S.W.2d 503 (Tex.Cr.App.1978):

"Whenever an attack upon the constitutionality of a statute is presented for determination, we commence with the presumption that such statute is valid and that the Legislature had not acted unreasonably or arbitrarily in enacting the statute. See Ex parte Smith, 441 S.W.2d 544 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); Smith v. Davis, 426 S.W.2d 827 (Tex.Sup.Ct.1968) . . . The burden rests upon the individual who challenges the act to establish its unconstitutionality. Robinson v. Hill, 507 S.W.2d 521 (Tex.Sup.Ct.1974), and if a statute is capable of two constructions, one of which sustains its validity, the courts will give to it the interpretation that sustains its validity. Townsend v. State, 427 S.W.2d 55 (Tex.Cr.App.1968); Newsom v. State, 372 S.W.2d 681 (Tex.Cr.App.1963); Baldridge v. State, 167 Tex.Cr.R. 519, 321 S.W.2d 309 (1959); Lockhart v. State, 150 Tex.Cr.R. 230, 200 S.W.2d 164 (1947). See also State v. Shoppers World, Inc., 380 S.W.2d 107 (Tex.Sup.Ct.1964); Alobaidi v. State, 433 S.W.2d 440 (Tex.Cr.App.1968), cert. den. 393 U.S. 943, 89 S.Ct. 313, 21 L.Ed.2d 281 (1968)."

Appellant's analysis of the statute ignores the basic nature of the offense proscribed. The behavior prohibited is fraud: the use by a person of a wilfully false statement, representation, impersonation or other fraudulent means to procure welfare aid. Of course, the State is required to prove as an element of the offense that the aid obtained was greater than that to which an accused was "justly entitled." However, proof of this issue logically depends on the initial fraud; only after it is determined that a falsehood has been used can it then be determined that an applicant is receiving benefits greater than those to which he or she is entitled. Proof of this latter issue may involve a wide range of factors, different for each welfare applicant. ¹ A comprehensive listing of such factors in the statute would be burdensome, if not impossible, and would offer no further notice to an accused of the type of fraudulent act he or she has allegedly committed. Due process requirements of specificity in a criminal statute are based on the need for adequate notice of what behavior is prohibited. The Constitution does not require impossible standards; all that is required is that the language conveys a sufficient warning as to the proscribed conduct when measured by common understanding and practices. United States v. Petrillo, 332 U.S. 1, 67 S.Ct. 1538, 91 L.Ed. 1877 (1946).

Connally v. General Construction Company, 269 U.S. 385, 46 S.Ct. 126, 70 L.Ed. 322 (1926), relied on by appellant, is distinguishable. Unlike the Oklahoma statute in Connally, Article 695c, § 34, supra, does not pose ex post facto problems; nor is the Texas statute based on an unknown or open-ended standard as the Oklahoma statute was. The core of the Texas statute is its prohibition against an applicant's use of fraudulent means to obtain welfare benefits. We find that Article 695c gives sufficient notice of the offense of fraud. Appellant has failed to sustain her burden of proving Article 695c, § 34, unconstitutional. Her first ground of error is overruled.

Appellant next claims that the information by which she was charged was defective, as it failed to apprise her of either the amount of assistance or the type of benefits she obtained. She also complains that no elements of theft were alleged in the information. The information in part read:

" . . . one SINNIE MAE REEVES hereinafter styled Defendant, heretofore, on or about the 23rd day of AUGUST A.D., 1974 in the County of Dallas and State of Texas, did unlawfully knowingly and intentionally attempt to obtain and obtain (sic) assistance, services and treatment from the Texas State Department of Public Welfare, namely: Aid to Families with Dependent Children,' in an amount to which the said defendant was not entitled and in an amount greater than that to which defendant was otherwise justly entitled by means of a wilfully false statement, representation, impersonation, and other fraudulent means, namely: said defendant falsely stated and represented to the Texas State Department of Public Welfare that she was unemployed when in truth and in fact said defendant was employed by Marriott Corporation . . . ."

Both of appellant's contentions are without merit. The information was sufficient to put appellant on notice of the crime charged, and as discussed above in reference to appellant's first ground of error, the offense was fraud, not theft....