State v. Adelson
| Decision Date | 27 June 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-039,78-039 |
| Citation | 118 N.H. 484,389 A.2d 1382 |
| Parties | The STATE of New Hampshire v. Leonard ADELSON. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Edward F. Smith and Andre J. Barbeau, of Department of Employment Security, Concord, for the State.
Devine, Millimet, Stahl & Branch P.A., of Manchester (Andrew D. Dunn, Manchester, orally), for defendant.
The issues in this criminal prosecution for nonpayment of unemployment compensation contributions are whether the defendant was physically capable of performing the act required by statute, whether the defendant possessed the requisite criminal state of mind necessary for conviction, and whether the imposition of the penalty of imprisonment upon a corporate officer for the corporation's failure to pay these contributions would violate due process of law.
The defendant was charged with two separate violations of RSA 282:14 F (Supp.1975), which provides in pertinent part: "(Falsity by Employer) Any employing unit . . . or any officer or agent of an employing unit . . . who knowingly fails or refuses to make any such (unemployment compensation) contribution . . . shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if a natural person . . . ." The case was tried in Portsmouth District Court, and the defendant was found guilty on both counts. Defendant appealed to the Rockingham County Superior Court. The Court (Goode, J.) found defendant guilty on both counts and sentenced defendant to thirty days in the Rockingham County House of Correction. Defendant's motions to set aside the verdict and to suspend the sentence were both denied. Goode, J., reserved and transferred defendant's exceptions. We reverse the convictions.
In August 1975 the defendant and several others established the AIS Corporation for the purpose of "engaging in the shoe business." The corporation acquired factories in Portsmouth and Newport, New Hampshire, and employed as many as two hundred people during some period of its existence. The defendant, who was the corporation's president and chief executive officer, contributed one hundred thousand dollars in start-up capital in return for his one-third interest. The defendant also contributed the proceeds from the sale of a racing horse and his personal automobile when the corporation first began to develop financial problems. The defendant also testified that he is personally responsible for some two hundred sixty thousand dollars that he borrowed for the corporation's benefit.
The corporation lost about three hundred thousand dollars from September 1975 to December 1975 because of unexpected costs associated with training employees. Eighty percent of these employees were unemployed stitchers referred to the corporation by the department of employment security. The corporation continually had problems in meeting its payroll and was forced to secure loans to meet these responsibilities. In August 1976 the corporation finally closed the business.
The corporation, as an employing unit, was required to file reports with the department of employment security and to pay unemployment compensation contributions for each calendar quarter. These reports and contributions are due the last day of the month following the close of the calendar quarter. The corporation filed the necessary report and paid the contributions due for the quarter ending September 30, 1975. However, the corporation's quarterly report for the period ending December 31, 1975, which was due January 3, 1976, was not filed until March 26, 1976. The quarterly report for the period ending March 31, 1976, which was due April 30, 1976, was not filed until May 24, 1976. There was no payment of contributions with either report.
The State, in attempting to show that the defendant was physically capable of making the contributions, presented evidence that the corporation paid defendant's mother one hundred twenty-five dollars a week for an unspecified period of time, that the corporation leased a Mercedes-Benz automobile for five months at a monthly cost of four hundred three dollars, and that the corporation chartered airplanes for various purposes when the use of an...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Woodland v. Angus
... 820 F. Supp. 1497 ... Eugene Nate WOODLAND, Plaintiff, ... Norman ANGUS, Executive Director, Utah State Department of Social Services, Paul Thorpe, Director, Division of Mental Health, Robert Verville, Superintendent, Utah State Hospital, Craig Hummel, ... ...
-
State v. Pinder
...possessed marijuana. We disagree. In a criminal case, the State must establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, State v. Adelson, 118 N.H. 484, 486, 389 A.2d 1382, 1384 (1978), for each of the elements of the crime charged. State v. Fossett, 119 N.H. 155, 156, 399 A.2d 966, 967 (1979). "It ......
- State v. Bertrand
-
State v. Thayer, 78-046
...guilty, and thereby imposes a cruel and unusual punishment. Defendant's brief was submitted before our decision in State v. Adelson, 118 N.H. ---, 389 A.2d 1382 (1978). Adelson requires that the State prove as an element of RSA 282:14 F that the person charged had the authority to make the ......