United States v. Nelson

• Citation: 273 F.2d 459
• Decision Date: 12 January 1960
• Docket Number: No. 12686.,12686.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ike NELSON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

273 F.2d 459 (1960)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ike NELSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 12686.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

January 12, 1960.

R. Eugene Pincham, Chicago, Ill., Howard T. Savage, Chicago, Ill., of counsel, for appellant.

Robert Tieken, U. S. Atty., John Peter Lulinski, Asst. U. S. Atty., Chicago, Ill. (Robert N. Johnson, Asst. U. S. Atty., Chicago, Ill., of counsel). for appellee.

Before DUFFY and KNOCH, Circuit Judges, and MERCER, District Judge

KNOCH, Circuit Judge.

Defendant, Ike Nelson, and one Dorothy Renarda¹ Webb were indicted in seven counts on charges of having, with unlawful and fraudulent intent, willfully and feloniously transported and caused to be transported in interstate commerce seven separate falsely made and forged American Express Company money orders, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C.A. § 2314. In each count, one Loretta Wilbur and one Cornelius Moreno Webb are charged with aiding, abetting, counseling, advising and procuring the commission of the offense described. An eighth count charges all four persons with unlawful conspiracy to commit the offense, described, in violation of Title 18 U.S. C.A. § 371.

Dorothy Renarda Webb, Loretta Wilbur and Cornelius Moreno Webb had pleaded guilty, but had not been sentenced, when Ike Nelson was tried separately before a jury on his plea of not guilty. The jury found defendant guilty as charged in the indictment. A sentence of three years was imposed.

Defendant appeals in reliance on alleged errors in ruling on the evidence, insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the charges, and prejudicial statements of the Trial Court.

The evidence showed that on June 25, 1958, the GR branch office of the Western Union Express Company, in St. Louis, Missouri, was robbed of two books of blank American Express Company money orders. An employee of that office testified that the money orders involved here were among those stolen, and that, when taken, all were blank except for the printed portion thereof and the words "GR, St. Louis, Mo." affixed by rubber stamp.

At the trial, counsel for the government told the jury that the government did not infer that Ike Nelson was involved in the robbery and that he knew Ike Nelson did not commit the robbery.

At the end of June or the beginning of July, Ike Nelson, in Chicago, Illinois, showed a book of the stolen money order blanks to Mr. and Mrs. Webb and Loretta Wilbur. All four agreed to cash these money orders and to split the proceeds. Loretta Wilbur and the Webbs all testified that Loretta Wilbur, in the presence of defendant, Ike Nelson, filled in the handwritten portions of the face of the printed money order blanks. Loretta Wilbur testified that she inserted the figures "50" and the word "Fifty" because the printed blanks read "not payable for more than fifty dollars;" that she inserted the name "Dorothy Moore" as payee and "Wm. Moore" as sender, because Mrs. Webb's name in a prior marriage had been Moore and Mrs. Webb could provide identification for that name. Then Loretta Wilbur and the Webbs cashed the money orders at various stores.

Ike Nelson denied that he gave the money orders to any of the other defendants, or had any connection with the above described activity. He contradicted many of the statements in the testimony of the other witnesses concerning such matters as his home address and the nature and extent of his acquaintance with Loretta Wilbur and the Webbs.

Defendant argues that, even if the jury believed the testimony of the other defendants, there is no evidence that he knew the securities would be paid in New York, that he intended and caused them to be transported in interstate commerce, or that the securities were actually transported outside the state of Illinois.

Each of the money orders bears the printed legend: "American Express Company, New York, New York, agrees to transmit and pay." In our opinion this clearly indicated that the securities were payable at the American Express Company, in New York, New York. Defendant must have known that the money orders, when forged and uttered, would have to be sent across state lines to New York for collection. We can only conclude that defendant did intend and cause the money orders to be transported in interstate commerce. United States v. Sheridan, 1946, 329 U.S. 379, 391, 67 S. Ct. 332, 91 L.Ed. 359.

The money orders are each stamped "Paid, with an appropriate date inserted, AMEXCO, N. Y." On all of the money orders, except that shown in the government's Exhibit 5, the stamp is blurred and the letter "A" of "AMEXCO" is not clear. The transcript of testimony indicates that some of the witnesses, apparently misreading the rubber stamp on the money orders, said that payment had been made at "Mexico, New York." The documents speak for themselves. They show that they were in fact paid at the American Express Company in New York, as abbreviated: "AMEXCO, N. Y.", or "MEXCO, N. Y." The special agent for the American Express Company in Chicago testified that American Express Company money orders are paid in New York. He identified the stamp quoted above and testified that such a stamp is affixed by the clearing house division of the American Express Company in New York when the money order is paid.

Defendant contends that these securities were genuine; that they were, in fact, genuine printed money order blanks of the American Express Company. He argues that Mrs. Webb endorsed the money orders, when they were cashed at various stores, with her own former name, Dorothy Moore, never representing her signature to be that of anyone other than herself; that Loretta Wilbur's insertion of the name "Dorothy Moore" (meaning Mrs. Webb) and her insertion of the name "Wm. Moore" (which was never passed off as genuine) plus...