Stokes v. State

• Decision Date: 05 June 1979
• Docket Number: 1 Div. 27
• Citation: 373 So.2d 1211
• Parties: Kenneth STOKES v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 1211

373 So.2d 1211

Kenneth STOKES v. STATE.

1 Div. 27.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

June 5, 1979.

Rehearing Denied July 17, 1979.

Rivard D. Melson and Paul M. Harden, Monroeville, for appellant.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen. and Samuel J. Clenney, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

BOWEN, Judge.

The defendant was indicted and convicted under Alabama Code Section 13-4-2 (1975) for selling a truck to hinder, delay, or defraud the Peoples Bank of Frisco City, Alabama. The trial court fixed punishment at one year and one day imprisonment.

The facts in this case are not complicated. On July 23, 1976, the defendant borrowed $5,000.00 from Peoples Bank in Frisco City on a 150 day note, numbered 2310, which listed as collateral a Ford tractor and a 1969 Dodge truck. In January of 1977 the defendant sold the truck to Wayne Wright for $1,650.00. The bank's note had not been paid at the time of this sale and according to George Burns, the executive vice president of Peoples Bank, the defendant was never authorized to sell the truck.

On September 14, 1977, the defendant executed a "Disclosure Statement, Note & Security Agreement" to Peoples Bank which renewed several of his outstanding notes by consolidating them into one note with one monthly payment. Listed as part of the collateral on this renewal note was note number 2310. At the time the renewal note was executed the bank had knowledge that the 1969 Dodge truck, part of the collateral on note 2310, had been sold by the defendant. Jimmy Tucker, a loan officer with Peoples Bank, testified that he and another loan officer learned from the defendant that he had sold the truck prior to the date the renewal note was executed. It was Mr. Tucker's testimony that when he and the other loan officer met with the defendant concerning the truck "we informed him he still owed the balance (on note 2310) and we would like for it to be paid". Note 2310 was subsequently marked "Paid by Renewal"; the renewal note, however, evidenced the bank's continuing lien on the truck by listing note 2310 among its collateral.

The defendant admitted that he owed Peoples Bank money and that his 1969 Dodge truck had been listed as collateral for note 2310. He testified that he had sold the truck prior to signing the renewal note, that the bank had given him permission to sell the truck "because I knew more about the value of it than anyone" and that he "gave" the proceeds from the truck sale ($1,650.00) to the bank within a month after the sale. The defendant stated that he did not intend to defraud the bank by making the sale. He further stated that his record of paying the bank the proceeds from the sale, a "lump sum" cancelled check for $1,650.00 naming Peoples Bank as payee, had been "destroyed in a fire . . . a year ago".

On rebuttal Mr. Tucker testified that the bank's records did not reflect a $1,650.00 check or deposit by the defendant to the bank. "The last deposit we show any record of is 11/30/76." Further, the records indicated that the defendant made no cash payments to the bank between October 20, 1976, and May 27, 1977.

I

The first issue presented on this appeal concerns the sufficiency of the evidence. The defendant maintains that the State failed to prove a prima facie case. Alabama Code Section 13-4-2 (1975) reads as follows:

"Any person who removes or sells any personal property for the purpose of hindering, delaying or defrauding any person who has claim thereto under any written instrument, lien created by law for rent or advances or any other lawful or valid claim, verbal or written, with a knowledge of the existence thereof; or who, with like intent, buys, receives or conceals any such property with knowledge of the existence of any such claim, shall, on conviction, be punished as if he had stolen the same."

The defendant's conviction involves the first part of this offense.

The elements which the State must prove in order to sustain a conviction for the removal or sale of personal property to which others have a claim under Section 13-4-2 are: (1) That the defendant removed or sold personal property; (2) that the removal or sale was made for the purpose of hindering, delaying or defrauding one having a lawful claim to such property; and (3) that the defendant had knowledge of the claim.

Here the State proved that the defendant sold a truck to which Peoples Bank had a lawful claim by way of a lien. The defendant's version did not differ in these essential particulars. See King v. State, 55 Ala.App. 306, 314 So.2d 908, cert. denied, 294 Ala. 762, 314 So.2d 912 (1975).

Secondly, the State proved that the defendant had knowledge of the bank's claim at the time of the sale. Note 2310, which listed the truck as collateral, was signed by the defendant and introduced into evidence without objection. This note, had not been satisfied. Again, the defendant admitted that he had sold the truck and that he knew of the existence of the bank's lien on it.

Thirdly, the defendant's intention to defraud the bank on their claim is a fact which the jury could infer from the above evidence. Foster v. State, 88 Ala. 182, 7 So. 185 (1890). Also see May v. State, 115 Ala. 14, 22 So. 611 (1897); Kent v. State, 34 Ala.App. 443, 41 So.2d 194 (1949); Courtney v. State, 10 Ala.App. 141, 65 So. 433 (1914).

"(S)elling or removing property on which there is a valid lien . . . cannot become criminal unless tainted with knowledge actual knowledge of the lien, and there is an intent to defraud the lienee. The intent, however, is an inferential fact to be drawn by the jury, and proof of the sale or removal, with knowledge of the lien, will authorize a jury to infer the intent, when there are no attendant circumstances to repeal the inference." Foster, 88 Ala. at 186-187, 7 So. at 186.

Thus, the defendant's intention to defraud the bank was a fact which the jury could have inferred from the defendant's sale of the truck with knowledge of the bank's claim. Questions of fact are for the jury to resolve. Arnold v. State, 33 Ala.App. 146, 30 So.2d 587 (1947). The State proved the elements of the offense and the issue of the defendant's guilt or innocence was properly submitted to the jury.

II

Under the testimony, the bank's stamping "Paid by Renewal" on note 2310 in no way discharged the defendant's obligation to pay that note. His obligation was simply transferred to the consolidated renewal note, which listed note 2310, and thus the truck, among the collateral to which the bank retained a lien. The defendant executed the renewal note and is presumed to have recognized the bank's retained security interest in the truck. The very phrase, "Paid by Renewal", suggests that the note was not satisfied, but was renewed.

The defendant objected to the admission of the renewal note, which was titled "Disclosure Statement, Note & Security Agreement", on the basis that it entailed more than was embraced by the indictment.

The renewal note was relevant to the proceedings in that it showed the bank's continuation of their lien on the collateral listed in note 2310. The renewal note was further evidence that the bank had not released the defendant from his obligation under his original note. Further, there is no question that the defendant realized he was still obligated on note 2310 when he signed the renewal note. When asked why he let the bank include note 2310 as collateral on the renewal note knowing that the collateral for note 2310 was gone the defendant replied, "Because at the time I thought I could maybe pay for it".

Even though the sale of the truck occurred prior to the execution of the renewal note, by introducing note 2310 which had stamped on it "Paid by Renewal", it logically became necessary for the State to introduce the renewal note itself, which proved the continuation of the bank's lien on the truck, to avoid confusing the jury. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the jury to trace the lien on the truck from the original note, which was admitted without objection, to the renewal note. It was relevant in explaining the bank's continued security interest in the truck and it prevented the jury from being misled into concluding that the original note had been satisfied.

Relevancy has a broad scope in criminal trials. Dawson v. State, 43 Ala.App. 265, 271, 188 So.2d 600 (1966).

"The exclusion or admission of evidence, which is supposed by one party to be relevant, and by the other is considered as irrelevant, is frequently a matter of some difficulty. The general rules on this subject are, however, believed to be sufficiently clear and precise to prevent any injustice from being done. When the relevancy is not apparent from the evidence offered, but other facts will make it so, the duty of the party offering it is to state its connection with the other facts in order that its relevancy may be disclosed to the court . . . It is impossible to prescribe the course which counsel shall pursue in putting a case to the jury, but they must always be prepared to explain the object for which the evidence is offered . . . ." Crenshaw v. Davenport, 6 Ala. 390 (1844).

"(I)f any facts are shown from which the jury may reasonably infer that the crime has been committed, the question must be submitted to the jury, and other evidence tending to implicate the accused is thereby rendered admissible."

Hill v. State, 207 Ala. 444, 446, 93 So. 460, 461 (1922).

Any fact which has a causal connection or a logical relation to another fact, so as to make the other fact either more or less probable, is competent or relevant. Barnes v. State, 31 Ala.App. 187, 189, 14 So.2d 242, cert. denied, 244 Ala. 597, 14 So.2d 246 (1943). In the present case there was certainly a logical connection between the renewal note and note 2310. Based on the foregoing we hold that it was not error for the trial court to admit the renewal note into evidence.

III

The defendant argues that the State failed...