State v. Snyder
Decision Date | 05 July 1951 |
Docket Number | No. 7734,7734 |
Citation | 71 Idaho 454,233 P.2d 802 |
Parties | , 33 A.L.R.2d 358 STATE v. SNYDER. |
Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Samuel F. Swayne, Ray McNichols, Orofino, for appellant.
Robert E. Smylie, Atty. Gen., William H. Bakes, Asst. Atty. Gen., Warren F. Gardner, Prosecuting Atty., Orofino, for respondent.
The appellant was convicted of selling mortgaged personal property exceeding the value of $60 and sentenced to serve a term of not to exceed fourteen years in the State Penitentiary.
In the spring of 1946 the appellant, a married man with limited education and business experience, purchased an old combine harvester; the purchase in part was financed through a loan with Robinson Loan Company secured by chattel mortgage on the harvester; the mortgage was recorded in the office of the County Recorder of Clearwater County; the following spring appellant gave a mortgage on all of his livestock and machinery to Farmers' Home Administration, hereinafter referred to as FHA; this mortgage contained an after-acquired property clause, and it was also recorded in the office of the said County Recorder of Clearwater County.
In the fall of 1947 appellant being delinquent in his payments to Robinson Loan Company, was being pressed for payment; he approached one Emon Olson, seeking money with which to pay off the Robinson loan which at that time was approximately $180.
Appellant, Olson, and Mr. Patterson, manager of Robinson Loan Company, met at the garage of Olson in Orofino, Idaho, where the transaction with reference to the financing of the Robinson loan was consummated. At that time Olson paid directly to Patterson the $180 debt owing by appellant to Robinson Loan Company; there was no other money changed hands; at that time Olson himself prepared an instrument which on its face purports to be a bill of sale covering the harvester, and appellant executed it; Olson had never seen the harvester prior to this time nor did he at any time thereafter take it into possession.
Early in March, 1948 the FHA foreclosed its mortgage and the harvester, with all the other property covered by the mortgage was sold at Sheriff's sale; Olson had notice of these proceedings, and while he advised the Sheriff that he owned the harvester, he did nothing further about it.
Either in the month of March 1948 or March 1949, the evidence being uncertain, appellant's wife made two monthly payments of $10 each to Olson, who gave her on each occasion receipt therefor.
The crucial question conceded by both the State and appellant is whether or not the instrument which on its face purports to be a bill of sale was in fact and in law an absolute transfer of title, or merely a device to secure a debt. If it is a mortgage or any form of security device the State failed to prove a sale as charged in the information, and the conviction cannot be sustained.
Section 45-901, Idaho Code, defines a mortgage as follows: 'Mortgage is a contract by which specific property is hypothecated for the performance of an act without the necessity of a change of possession.'
Sections 45-904, Idaho Code, and 45-905, Idaho Code, provide as follows:
Olson, who was the complaining witness, testified under direct examination with reference to the transaction between himself and appellant as follows:
, and under cross-examination he testified as follows:
'
After objection to the above question was overruled the question was again stated, and Olson answered as follows:
'
'
The appellant testified in substance to the effect that he had gotten behind in his payments to Robinson Loan Company and that they were about to take his machine away, so he went down to Mr. Olson and told him about it and stated that he didn't want to lose his machine and asked Olson if he would refinance the matter and that he could repay him and in that manner would not lose his combine. Appellant further testified that he was to pay the money back to Mr. Olson on a monthly basis which, as he recalled, was somewhere around $40 or $50 per month with interest at the rate of eight percent.
Mr. Patterson, who was present at the time the transaction was consummated, testified that there was a conversation between the appellant and Olson...
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